Friday, April 22, 2005

A Soundless Sound System



Click here for AmazonElwood "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...


One use for this technology I haven't seen discussed is telephonic. In a car or on a plane, wouldn't it be nice to talk quietly into a directional microphone while listening to a caller? While handling absolutely no equipment?

Inventor creates Soundless Sound System
 

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