Phase-Shifted Speakers Aim Sound at the Hearing Impaired

Nov-20-14 A new loudspeaker system is able to aim a high-volume sound at a specific individual, allowing the hard-of-hearing to enjoy music and TV shows without needing to blast everyone else out of the room.

The system, developed by a team at the University of Southampton, is made up of loudspeakers that have been phase-shifted to create an area of amplified volume. The hearing impaired individual can position themselves in the amplified area and enjoy the show, while the rest of the listeners are able to hear the normal volume. In tests in a normal room, the system was shown to improve speech intelligibility in the "hot zone" by about 30 percent.

Although there are other volume-focusing systems on the market, this most recent version does away with the need to have a speaker array positioned at the back of the room to cancel out the audio waves from that direction.

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[MEDGADGET.COM]
[SOUTHAMPTON.AC.UK]

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