Inventor Creates Soundless Sound System - *This* is cool

[johnnie]

I don't know if any of you think this is as cool as I do, but this shit fascinates the hell out of me.






"Elwood "Woody" Norris pointed a metal frequency emitter at one of perhaps 30 people who had come to see his invention. The emitter — an aluminum square — was hooked up by a wire to a CD player. Norris switched on the CD player.

"There's no speaker, but when I point this pad at you, you will hear the waterfall," said the 63-year-old Californian.

And one by one, each person in the audience did, and smiled widely."
Norris' HyperSonic Sound system has won him an award coveted by inventors — the $500,000 annual Lemelson-MIT Prize. It works by sending a focused beam of sound above the range of human hearing. When it lands on you, it seems like sound is coming from inside your head."

More:
http://beta.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=528&e=2&u=/ap/20050422/ap_on_hi_te/hypersonic_sound

[asthmaticeog]

1. THAT'S HOW THE GUBMINT PUTS THEM VOICES IN MY HED!

:tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat:

[Burma Jones]

2. Oh, I want one of these

Do you know how many people could be fooled into thinking they're hearing God? If I could only get James Earl Jones in on the joke, it would be foolproof.

[giant_robot]

4. An amazing new technology and THAT'S the first thing you think of?

If only you would use your powers for good instead of evil!

[Burma Jones]

11. Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha

It would also be very useful at Republican Rallies........

[AllegroRondo]

6. Wasnt there a movie about that?

Where some college guys wired up someone's braces with a radio receiver, then made him think god was talking to him.

[CornField]

8. Real Genius (Val Kilmer)

I loved that movie. LOL!

[tridim]

9. Real Genius

One of the best movies ever!

"This is Jesus Kent...Stop playing with yourself."

Kent: "It is God!"

[YellowRubberDuckie]

13. If God doesn't sound like James Earl Jones...

I don't think I want to hear his voice. hehe
Duckie

[tridim]

3. Cool, but why not just use headphones?

My guess is that his invention will be militarized post-haste.

[e75]

5. Son of Sam

yep this technology is old hat to government agents. Son of Sam comes to mind

[Redstone]

7. And, of course, it'll be used to spam people...

I've heard about this, and they're thinking that it will be used to "sound spam" people with advertisements when they walk down the sidewalk in front of a store, for example.

That way, the store can get around the laws against playing ads through a loudspeaker.

Is there ANY technology that won't be twisted into a form of spam?

Redstone

[EC]

10. Gives new meaning to hearing voices in my head

I wonder if this could be used to gaslight someone into thinking they are going crazy? I have a constant ringing in my ears (tinnitus) I wonder if this would over-ride that?

[ProfessorGAC]

12. There's A Competitor

I'll look for a link, but i saw a demo of what was called the "Narrow Point Source Audio Emitter". I saw it at the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago, i think in 2003.

Sounds a lot like this. The emitters were little paraboloid made out of some sort of alloy. (I forget which.)

The sound was very clear and transparent if you stood between the two pieces. But, if you moved more than a foot one way or the other, it would fade so fast that it was inaudible after about 2 feet in any direction. Almost like headphones you didn't have to wear!

The intent of the design was supposed to be that eventually, they would change the phase angle and power to various points on the membrane so that the same speaker would open its focus to fill a room, or narrow it to a single person feel.

The thing i thought was amazing was how much body the sound had for a couple of things the size of a desktop calculator. I pictured the wider angle option for a live sound system for a band. A third of the size, and a quarter of the weight for something that sounded like that!

This is cool stuff.
The Professor