The verge.com has a great article on the history of binaural recordings. A binaural recording is similar to a stereo recording using two microphones, only the microphones are placed within the ears of an anatomically accurate human manikin.
Sound design of a BMW car door closing
Find out how the sound of the door closing of a BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe was designed on the BMWBLOG.
VocalZoom creates new optoacoustic microphone for better noise rejection
A company called VocalZoom has created an optical microphone sensor that can be used on phones to enhance the pickup of voice, and claims to increase noise rejection by 40dB.
Motorola Solutions has made a venture capital investment into VocalZoom, as reported on the IWCE’s Urgent Communications web site.
Siemen’s easyTek hearing aids
Siemen’s showed off their easyTek hearing aid system at the CES 2015 show this month, where one can change the directivity of the hearing aid microphones using the easyTek smartphone app for Apple iphones or Android devices. The plastic disk shown in the image connects the hearing aid to a bluetooth device such as a phone, MP3 player, TV etc, and permits the audio from the media player to be fed directly to the hearing aid.
A cone of silence that works
You may remember the TV series Get Smart and the cone of silence that never worked. Well a company called Selentium demonstrated a new product called the Comfort-Shell at the CES 2015 show that uses active noise control to create a zone of quiet within a device that looks like one-quarter of sphere.
Read the press release on the Selentium web site, and images of the device are on theverge.com web site.
New Loudspeakers
The CES 2015 show starts this week and there is sure to be a bevy of new audio gadgets.
Samsung will be showing off their new WAM 6500 and WAM 7500 loudspeakers.
Samsung WAM 6500
Samsung WAM 7500
Some other new freaky-shaped loudspeakers that are on the market include the Om One and the Mars.
The Om One from Om Audio is a levitating loudspeaker is available for pre-order for $US 199. Apart from playing music from a bluetooth device, it can also be used as a speakerphone.
Om One from Om Audio
You can watch a promo video on the development of the Om One on youtube.
Another similar levitating speaker product is from Crazybaby in Hong Kong that has developed the Mars loudspeaker. The base station houses a sub-woofer, the floating disc that radiates sound is water-proof. The device has some nifty features that can be used for conference calls, and will automatically adjust the volume depending on the proximity of your bluetooth source from the base station. The loudspeaker is available for pre-order at $US 189 from the Crazybaby web site.
Mars levitating loudspeaker
Review of sound level meter smartphone apps
An article in The Journal of Acoustical Society of America describes the scientific review of 10 iOS and 4 Android smartphone apps for measuring sound levels. Although 130 iOS apps were evaluated, only 10 apps met their selection criteria, and only 4 out of 62 Android apps were tested. Only a few apps were available on the Windows phone platform, but none met their selection criteria. As a result, no testing was conducted on Windows-based devices or apps.
The results were that
the SPLnFFT app had the best agreement, in unweighted SPLs, with a mean difference of 0.07 dB from the actual reference values. The SoundMeter app had the best agreement, in A-weighted sound levels, with a mean difference of −0.52 dBA from the reference values. For unweighted sound level measurements, NoiSee, SoundMeter, and SPLnFFT had mean differences within the ±2 dB of the reference measurement. For A-weighted sound level measurements, Noise Hunter, NoiSee, and SoundMeter had mean differences within ±2 dBA of the reference measurements.
Read the full paper on the The Journal of Acoustical Society of America web site.
Controversy with replacing foghorns
In Maine and New Hampshire in the USA, the coast guard is replacing old style foghorns from the 1970s that were unserviceable, with new technology that is activated by marine radio resulting in fewer blasts of the foghorn noise. In a surprising twist, some residents want to retain the old style foghorns.
Read the full article on the CTV News web site.
Vitamin can help prevent hearing loss
Researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College and the Gladstone Institutes have found a way to prevent noise-induced hearing loss in a mouse using a simple chemical compound that is a precursor to vitamin B3. This discovery has important implications not only for preventing hearing loss, but also potentially for treating some aging-related conditions that are linked to the same protein.
Read the full article on the Weill Cornell web site.
Phantom subwoofer loudspeaker
The Phantom subwoofer loudspeaker from Devialet radiates sound from the front, back, and laterally out of ports on the sides of the enclosure. The standard version sells for $1,990, and generates 99dBL, and a 3000 watt version the Silver Phantom sells for $2,390 and generates 105 dBL.