Sony have released a new type of headphone that has a separate bass ‘duct’, a tube that is inserted into the ear canal, and external speakers for the mid- and high- frequencies. The PFR-V1 headphones will be available for retail sale in the US in April. The reason for doing this is to provide a more natural sound rather than the ‘in the head’ sound from most headphones. Images of the headphones can be viewed on Sony’s Japan web site.
New Hosting
Another interesting year is in store for 2008 with some great conferences in acoustics in vibrations around the globe. For a list of conferences, see the Calendar for 2008 Conferences.
This web site was hacked again recently. It appears that someone did some sql injections into the forums. I’ve shutdown the forums as they were not widely used. I’ve also changed the hosting of the web site. Let me know if you spot any problems.
Recorded sound to help locate car rattles
A UK company has released a CD containing pre-recorded road noises that when played back through a car stereo should excite the rattles in a car, which will help in locating these annoyances. See the Rattle Buster web site.
Bone vibration conduction mobile phone headset
A new Bluetooth mobile phone headset is now available that uses the vibration from facial bones and a microphone to reduce background noise. See the Jawbone headset website for more information.
Tyre / Road Noise Reference Book
Ulf Sanberg and Jerzy Ejsmont have released a new reference book covering all the aspects of tyre and road noise. The cost is $US230 or $E190 and is available from Informex web site.
Nikon’s S7c camera has inbuilt vibration reduction for sharper pictures
The new Nikon S7c camera has inbuilt vibration reduction to help take shaper pictures. An angular velocity sensor is used with in built image processing software to reduce blurry pictures.
For more information see the Nikon press release.
Active vibration control for wind turbine towers
A company called AADcontrol have a ‘new’ technology to reduce the vibration of towers on 1MW turbines, called ‘Active Aerodynamic Damping’.
Update book on psychoacoustics
Prof Fastl and Prof Zwicker have released an updated version of their popular 1999 book on psychoacoustics called Psychoacoustics: Facts and Models . This book is a “must have” for those interested in psychoacoustics.
New accelerometer calibrator from VIP Sensors
VIP Sensors have released a new accelerometer calibrator, Model 5900. The vibration amplitude is adjustable from 0.02 g to 2 g at 100 Hz using the internal generator, or 50Hz to 2 KHz using an external oscillator.