A paper-thin loudspeaker which promises to turn any surface into an active audio source was demonstrated by engineers at MIT this week.
MIT reports that the thin-film loudspeaker produces sound with minimal distortion regardless of the surface it’s bonded to. Researchers say it also uses a fraction of the energy required by a traditional loudspeaker.
Entire rooms could in future be wallpapered with the loudspeaker that MIT engineers say can be created with a simple fabrication technique.
The researchers tip the technology for use in wide range of applications including active noise cancellation and immersive entertainment, as well as for use with smart devices.
Writing in an article on the MIT website, Vladimir Bulovic, the Fariborz Maseeh Chair in Emerging Technology, leader of the Organic and Nanostructured Electronics Laboratory (ONE Lab), director of MIT.nano, and senior author of the paper, said: “It feels remarkable to take what looks like a slender sheet of paper, attach two clips to it, plug it into the headphone port of your computer, and start hearing sounds emanating from it. It can be used anywhere. One just needs a smidgeon of electrical power to run it.”
Bulovic wrote the paper with lead author Jinchi Han, a ONE Lab postdoc, and co-senior author Jeffrey Lang, the Vitesse Professor of Electrical Engineering. The research was published today in IEEE Transactions of Industrial Electronics.
[Top image via MIT]