Directional acoustic systems. "Directed Sound" Audio Spotlight

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What is directional sound?

Directional sound refers to its propagation in one direction. At the same time, its sound is the same, both next to the speaker and at a distance of up to 40 m. This is an effective means for organizing advertising, sound accompaniment in museums and, of course, for attracting interest from visitors to the stand at various events.

Speakers and directional speakers- This is also an excellent solution for limiting the sound space, confidentiality of speech in rooms, attracting attention, increasing productivity and creating a great mood among office employees and their clients.

The use of these devices will help you approach the organization of sound space in any room from a new perspective.

How much do directional sound systems cost?

Do you wish buy directional sound systems? Our specialists will help you with this. You can find out all the information on cost, delivery and availability of discounts and promotions from them. Delivery of the system, speakers, speakers is carried out promptly throughout the Russian Federation and CIS countries.

A directional audio system designed for the mass market. This is an acoustic speaker, the sound from which can be heard only by one person in the room, as if he were wearing headphones.

We tell you how it works and where such technologies are already used.

What are directional sound systems

Such systems differ from conventional speakers in that they form a narrow audio stream that is heard only in front of it. The first directional sound speakers appeared in the late 80s.

The design was quite primitive. They were ordinary speakers hung from the ceiling, surrounded by a plastic dome. The sound reflected from the inner surface of the dome and was audible only to a person standing directly under the device.

In the 90s, another technology appeared that uses ultrasound. In this case, the speaker, using piezoelectric transducers, emits a sound whose frequency is beyond the range of human audibility. But as sound waves travel through the air, audible frequencies appear (due to nonlinear effects).

These systems have a serious drawback. They are designed for the listener to stand in one place - often the speakers are placed on the ceiling, and the sound is concentrated at a point below them.

How to solve this problem

Engineers from the Israeli startup Noveto solved this problem. Their directional sound system is able to transmit sound to the listener, regardless of his location in the room.

The speaker has 3D sensors that track the position of the user's head. After this, the system itself calculates in which direction and at what angle the sound waves should be sent (in this case, ultrasound is also used). As a result, “virtual headphones” are formed on the user’s ears - small areas in which music is heard.

The sensors react to the listener's movements and move the sound stream if the person turns his head or sits in a different place. At the same time, the system is able to recognize several people sitting nearby and send each a personal audio stream of different volumes.

A demonstration of the technology can be seen here video from CNBC:

Currently, the Noveto system is in the development stage, so it has certain disadvantages. For example, if you turn one ear towards the speaker, the sound will flow only into it (obviously, the system simply “does not see” the second ear). However, according to company representatives, this can be corrected by placing an additional audio system on the ceiling.

Another aspect that is also being worked on is sound quality. As journalists from Business Insider write, Noveto speakers still reproduce audio with distortion. Plus, such systems, due to the implementation features, do not reproduce low frequencies well. The startup's CEO says that over time, the system's sound quality will be significantly improved.

Where will the technology be used?

Nowadays, directional sound systems are rarely found in everyday life. They are mainly used in museums or exhibitions. Visitors can listen to lectures from electronic guides without disturbing others. Sometimes such systems can be found in stores near the shelves with advertised products. Such technologies are also used in banks. For example, some Sberbank branches installed terminals for video consultations with directional sound speakers.

It is expected that with the advent of compact systems similar to Noveto devices, directional sound will become a more common technology. And the most promising areas of its application seem to be audio systems for offices and cars.

In an office, directional sound systems can be used to equip video conference rooms or workplaces of employees who are forced to spend most of the day wearing headphones. These are dispatchers or call center operators.

Photo by Bryce Johnson /

In cars, directional sound can be used by the driver to answer a call, or by passengers who want to listen to music without distracting the person driving. In particular, Noveto has already entered into a deal with SEAT, which will test the new audio system in its cars.

Who else is developing similar systems?

Other car companies besides SEAT have also become interested in directional sound. Hyundai and KIA are working on a “Separated Sound Zone” system. Each seat in the car will be equipped with a separate directional speaker, so all passengers will be able to listen to different music or podcasts without disturbing each other.

Renault plans to introduce similar audio systems. The company invested in Akoustic Arts, a startup that develops “personal” speakers.

At CES 2018, the compact directional sound speaker S-Ray from Samsung was presented simultaneously with the Noveto system. This device fits in the palm of your hand and can be connected to your smartphone. The speaker was created in the Samsung C-Lab creative laboratory, and so far only the first prototype of the device is ready.

Despite its potential and the statements of Noveto's CEO, directional sound technology will not replace headphones for a long time. If only because all these projects are in the early stages of their development. However, technology has potential, and perhaps in the future it will be able to manifest itself in various areas of our lives.

P.S. More about audio technologies, sound and music - in our Telegram channel:

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It has always been believed that my home is my fortress. However, there are times when it is simply impossible to be in your own apartment.

Many things can cause inconvenience: noisy renovation work in a neighboring apartment, very loud music and, naturally, drunken brawls from above every night for a long period of time.

The noise, which continues around the clock, forces us to immediately look for at least some solution to eliminate it. However, not everyone knows how to overcome noisy neighbors.

The Federal Law states that the noise level should not exceed 40 dB between seven o'clock in the morning and eleven o'clock in the evening, but at night this figure should not exceed 30 dB.

If we take at least some comparison, then all sounds should be three times quieter than a car alarm. But still, do not forget that in each region amendments to this law can be made.

If the norms are violated by users of residential premises, all actions on the part of unscrupulous neighbors become an administrative violation.

However, it happens that while laws exist, they are unfortunately not implemented. In this case, there are a couple of options to solve the problem.

When very loud music is an obstacle, you can try to negotiate peacefully. This method is undoubtedly considered the best at that moment, if all participants in a given conflict are in an adequate state.

You can explain that you have a small child in your apartment and he needs to rest during the day, but in the evening he should go to bed at nine. You can compromise and understand each other.

In the event that peace negotiations do not go well, you can go to the local police officer, who is supposed to look into this situation at the request of the applicant. If there is a drunken brawl in a neighbor’s apartment, then it is best not to get involved in it, as there is a possibility of getting hurt. In this case, law enforcement agencies must intervene, who will immediately arrive at the scene when called and eliminate the conflict.

Neighbors are doing renovations

All repair work is a separate topic. When carrying out work using a drill, a person honestly thinks that he is not doing anything wrong, since it is working time, and therefore the law is not being violated.

But in some cases, this kind of noise can disturb an old woman who has a migraine and wake up a small child. In this case, you cannot complain, since the law has not actually been broken.

If the person is well-mannered, then you can independently decide on the time for him to carry out the noisiest repair work, which will give you the opportunity to go for a walk with your child during this period of time or not to go to bed at this time, but simply reschedule it.

Request for help

So what should you do if the noise continues, but you can’t reach an agreement? It should be noted that the arrival of a district police officer often simply does not give the results that we would like. Very often, this moment depends on how rampant corruption is in a given area and, of course, on the identity of the offender.

In the event that the local police officer does not take any action on the application or nothing changes after his arrival, you should contact the prosecutor’s office directly, which monitors how the laws are observed. They must sort it out and the answer will come to you in writing.

If they didn’t help here either, then the only thing left is the court. If a claim is filed, there must be strong evidence that it is really impossible for you to relax in your apartment due to noisy neighbors.

How will a request to the housing department affect it?

There is another authority to which you can file a complaint about particularly noisy upstairs neighbors who just want to annoy them. You should go there if there really are no illegal actions going on, which is rowdy behavior.

For example, a dog is constantly barking somewhere, or there is simply loud music from the upstairs neighbor. In these cases, it is permissible to contact the housing department. As a rule, employees of such an institution say that it is possible to conduct some kind of conversation, but it is not a fact that an apartment will be opened for them. So it's easier to call the police.

However, the police officers are not in a hurry to help, since their exit position is set up only for illegal actions, and loud music is the work of the housing department. And when the circle is closed, you should think about alternative methods.

There are exceptions

There are clauses in the silence law that may not be subject to time restrictions.

Items not included:

A small sick child is crying;
The cat meows or the dog barks;
The church bells are ringing;
Carrying out events and celebrations on the street;
Rescue or emergency operations accompanied by noise.

Consequences for violators

After the first warning has been issued and there is no effect, an administrative fine is then imposed. Its value will depend only directly on who was the cause for concern - an individual or a legal entity.

The addition to the law states that those who like to place an amplifier on the balcony may also be subject to fines. The law has clear criteria for violating silence, for which you will have to pay a fine:

Construction and repair work at night;
Use of pyrotechnics and fireworks;
Listening to loud music when using amplifiers;
Whistling, loud screams and more.

Self help

In the event that no methods can help deal with noisy neighbors, you can simply make repairs using materials with enhanced soundproofing properties.

However, this is not always the solution. Yes, and the matter is quite troublesome. You can try using infrasound.

What is infrasound?

Infrasound is usually called elastic waves, which are analogues of sound waves, but have lower frequencies that humans cannot hear. The upper limit of the infrasound range is 16-25 Hz.

The lower limit has not yet been identified. In fact, infrasound is present in everything: in the atmosphere, in forests, and even in water.

Actions of infrasound

Infrasonic actions occur due to resonance, which is the frequency of vibration of a large number of processes in the body. Alpha, beta and delta brain rhythms also occur at the purity of infrasound, as, in principle, does the heartbeat.

Infrasonic vibrations can coincide with vibrations in the body. Subsequently, the latter intensify, due to which some organ malfunctions. It may not only lead to injury, but also to rupture.

The frequency of vibrations in the human body varies from 8 to 15 hertz. At the time when a person is exposed to sound radiation, all physical vibrations can resonate, but the amplitude of microconvulsions will increase many times.

Naturally, a person will not be able to understand the feeling of what is affecting, because the sound cannot be heard. However, there is a certain state of anxiety. If there is an extremely long and active impact of a special sound on the entire human organ, then ruptures of internal vessels, as well as capillaries, occur.

Typhoon, earthquake and volcanic eruption emit a frequency of 7-13 hertz, which gives a call to a person to quickly retreat from the place where disasters occur. Infrasound and ultrasound can very easily drive a person to suicide.

A very dangerous sound interval is the frequency of 6-9 hertz. Very strong psychotronic effects are most pronounced at a frequency of 7 hertz, which is similar to the natural vibration of the brain.

At such a moment, any work of a mental nature simply becomes impossible, since there is a feeling that the head could “burst like a watermelon” at any moment. If the impact is not strong, then the ears simply ring and a feeling of nausea appears, vision deteriorates and the person succumbs to unaccountable fear.

A sound that is of medium intensity can upset the digestive organs, the brain, cause paralysis, blindness and general weakness. Strong exposure damages or completely stops the heart.

Ultrasonic emitter

You can independently build an infrasound emitter that will not cause any harm to the human body, but the unwanted neighborhood will become less noisy after its use.

Ultrasound design

The scheme is as follows: the simplest generator for creating oscillations is started from a coil, which is located in the speaker for sound. The relay is needed to start the capacitor. If you push the speaker to produce sound, it will turn off completely.

Next, the circuit begins to operate at the resonant frequency of the coil. We also need transistors that will be low-frequency and produce a certain sound power. A nine-volt power bank from a non-working modem is used as power supply.

Resistors R2 and R4 are volume controls. The circuit operates on a pendulum resonance. However, all the electrics take about two watts, but the output is about twenty, so the speaker does not work without them.

Any audio woofer will do. A prerequisite is to install it in a housing, since in this case an acoustic “short circuit” is eliminated. The body shape is perfect for a saucepan. When using a jigsaw, the ears of the speaker for sound are cut off, then it is stuck into a bucket and glued together around the perimeter with a “moment”.

Setting up an infrasound device

Initially, the entire system is assembled on a table and all electrical components are checked. Initially, this must be done without a weighting agent. Once turned on, the speaker should begin to hum at its resonance frequency.

If it doesn’t work right away, you should work with the capacitance of the capacitor. Then the whole device is assembled into a pan, all the cracks between the speaker and the body are glued with a “moment”, and then the spiral of the weighting agent should be coated with glue and glued to the speaker diffuser for sound.

If it is not possible to find a normal purity meter, you should set the ultrasound frequency to 13 Hz using an oscilloscope and a low-frequency generator based on the Lissajous figure. Then turn on the power to test for a few seconds to see what happens. Next, the device turns off and begins cutting the weighting spiral until a double Lissajous is obtained.

A means of direction - a megaphone - was invented before our era. It does not amplify sound, but only concentrates it, just as a parabolic reflector concentrates light. To make a horn, make a hollow truncated cone from any lightweight sheet material, having a length of about 300 mm, a small diameter of about 30 mm, and a large one of about 200 mm. For ease of use, provide it with a handle. Although such a simple device cannot be compared in efficiency with, it will be useful to the leader of a camping trip, a camp counselor, or a coach.

Just as the same lens can be used in both a projector and a telescope, the same horn can be used to both direct and collect sound. Place the small hole of the device not against your mouth, but against your ear, then point it at the source of a quiet sound, and you will hear it much more clearly.

The efficiency of a horn can only be increased by increasing its size. This makes it bulky. To avoid this, make the device curved. Such horns, sometimes built into chairs, were used in the past as primitive hearing aids. They were effective, but not portable. Also, curved horns are integral attributes of old gramophones.

Try placing a suitable sized horn against the small hole. Those located on the sides will feel that the sound has become quieter, but those located opposite the large hole will feel the volume increase. This is also not amplification, but only a redistribution of energy in space. The first horn loudspeakers also used curved tubes - this solution is sometimes used today, but for decorative purposes. More often there are loudspeakers with folded horns. Such a device consists of a loudspeaker with a small horn directed inside a large one. The latter, in turn, is directed at the listener. Take a closer look at a megaphone, a loudspeaker on a pole, or a police car and you will see just such a design.

But you can direct sound not only with the help of a large horn. The phenomenon of beats between oscillations is observed in relation to both electromagnetic and mechanical waves. Directing ultrasound requires a much smaller horn than directing audible sound. Imagine two ultrasonic emitters directed at the same point, one of which operates at a frequency of 30,000 Hz, and the second at a frequency of 30,500 Hz. Then, due to the beats, a person located at this point will hear a sound with a difference frequency of 500 Hz. If you are knowledgeable in electronics, try repeating this experiment using generators and piezoelectric emitters with a power of no more than 10 milliwatts.

VidaVision offers various directional sound systems

They are created on the basis of the most advanced achievements and give the sound a new quality - localization.

Advantages of directional sound:

It is possible to sound one or more zones in the room, maintaining silence in general.
The distance between the sound zones is from 1 meter without compromising the sound picture.
Various design options - from invisible against the background of the ceiling and walls, to futuristic “domes”.
Wide choice of sound zone and mounting height.

Underwater speakers.

Underwater speakers are based on the principles of “tactile sound”, which allows you to listen to music underwater. Thanks to the unusual technology, there is no sound distortion, as if you were trying to listen to speakers located on land from underwater.

Underwater speakers are:

Very clear sound underwater.--
Easy to install in any pool.
It is used for training athletes, aquatic therapy, and in private swimming pools.

In the mid-90s, the first samples of underwater speakers appeared as a result of the use of tactile sound technologies to transmit auditory information in the range of 1Hz-800Hz in an aquatic environment. Such speakers have found numerous applications, from private swimming pools to training synchronized swimmers and swimmers. Thanks to the fact that underwater speakers can be easily installed in a standard light niche in a pool, or simply lowered into the water on a cable, clear and crisp sound under water has become available to all pool owners. In particular, underwater speakers are in demand by those who use the pool regularly - for swimming, entertaining guests and just relaxing. Where are underwater speakers used:

Training pools.
Various prestigious resorts.
Olympic training center.
Private pools.
Synchronized swimming team training.
Marine biological research.
For the interaction of military divers.
Training sea animals.

Among the manufacturers of underwater acoustics, the most high-quality and interesting solutions are offered by AQUASONIC, RealSound, CLARK SYNTHESIS tactile sound.

Hidden dubbing.

Solid Drive is a miniature sound transducer of the class of a hidden sound system, transmitting the acoustic energy of a surface, transforming any object into a source of high-quality sound. Glass store windows turn into one large speaker, allowing you to attract customers by transmitting sound through the glass without resorting to complex installation of speaker systems.

Solid Drive uses the technology of using powerful neodymium magnets, as well as pairs of symmetrically arranged motors, designed to convert sound into strong vibrations, which in turn are transmitted to hard surfaces. The device can turn any hard surface into a speaker. It is possible to strictly limit the sounded area of space, the ability to use it as a stereo and mono emitter using two built-in convex aluminum 1” micro emitters.

Interior acoustics.

We are also ready to offer interior hidden acoustics from Amina Technologies. The company's products can be completely hidden from view, puttied, painted or wallpapered. And your walls will sing in the literal sense of the word.

All-weather speakers.

All-weather, good-sounding design speakers for outdoor applications are the result of more than seventy-five years of collaboration between acoustic engineers, artists, and sound designers. The result of this work is the most reliable and weather-resistant high-end professional audio equipment: speakers shaped like stones, flower pots and even a coconut tree.

Such columns are used for:

Landscape design
Private houses
Hotels
Designs of park areas

When choosing high-quality and reliable all-weather acoustics, you should pay attention to the products of B&W, Speaker Craft, Acoustic Energy, Monitor Audio.

Tactile sound.

Tactile sound features:

Tactile Sound allows you to feel the sound with your whole body.
Wide-range sound from 20Hz to 17kHz allows you to feel all the shades, and not just shake everything around.
Tactile Sound was tested in Russian cinemas and museums, its effect was noted as amazing.
The effect of tactile sound is not achieved at the expense of volume.
Installation position in a chair, under the floor, or flooring.

The Tactile Sound system is in greatest demand as an addition to home theaters and gaming systems. With Tactile Sound, visitors to the Museum of Paleontology will not forget how a giant lizard passed by, shaking the earth, and cadets, sitting in front of a combat simulator, will be completely immersed in the atmosphere of combat operations. Technology. Solid Drive™ is based on patented technology that uses very powerful neodymium magnets and pairs of symmetrically arranged motors to convert the sound signal into strong vibrations that are transmitted to solid surfaces upon direct contact. High-quality sound in the range of 70Hz-15kHz begins to be reproduced across the entire surface.