Invented metamaterial that focuses sound waves

Scientists at the Universities of Sussex and Bristol have created a new metamaterial that changes the shape and focus sound waves passing through it. This discovery may have an impact on medical x-rays and radio.

The sound field of a certain form used in obtaining digital medical imaging and therapy, as well as in creating systems of directional sound and ultrasonic haptic. A study published in the journal Nature Communications, describes a simple and cheap way to make sound waves form using acoustic metamaterials.





A team of scientists have collected a layer of metamaterial building blocks of different shapes, each of which decelerates and its changes as it passes through sound waves, to give the desired acoustic field, writes.

"Our metamaterial can be printed on a 3D printer and assembled to create any sound field imaginable. And we showed how this can be achieved using only a small number of bricks of different shapes. Having a box of these bricks, you can build your own acoustic devices," says Gianluca Memoli, the head of research.





"We wanted to create an acoustic device that control the audio with the same ease and flexibility with which the LCD displays and projectors control the light. Our discovery paves the way for new acoustic devices that combine the diffraction, dispersion and refraction, and allows in the future to develop fully digital spatial modulators sound that can be controlled in real time with minimum cost", explains Professor Sriram Subramanian.

The technology "air touch" wants to add to the visual and sound effects of immersion in virtual reality company Ultrahaptics. Several speakers directed ultrasound to the skin, and vibration at different levels cause different sensations.

 

P. S. And remember, only by changing their consumption — together we change the world! ©

Source: hightech.fm/2017/02/28/sound-shaping-metamaterial