Your next TV could play sound from the exact spot where the action happens
[post_content]
Disclaimer: This article has been automatically aggregated from
Have you ever watched a movie where a character speaks from the left side of the screen, but the voice comes from the speakers below your TV? Most of us don’t notice it anymore, but this small mismatch quietly takes away from the experience. A new display technology from Korea wants to fix that by turning the screen itself into a speaker.
As reported by Newswise, researchers at the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM) have built a display that makes sound come from wherever a character or object shows up on screen. If a car races from one corner to the other, the audio travels right along with it.
How does a screen become a speaker?
The team fitted 80 tiny vibration motors to the back of the display. Rather than shaking the entire screen, the system works out how much power each motor should get, so only the targeted patch vibrates and makes sound.
In tests, the system landed on the correct spot 99.9% of the time. Active zones vibrated up to 35 dB more than quiet ones, so the sound doesn’t spill over to the rest of the screen.
Researchers are using AI to handle the heavy lifting. It tracks where each sound source sits in a video, pulls individual sounds apart from a mix, and sends each one to its matching spot on the screen without you lifting a finger.
The team tested everything on a roughly 100-inch prototype, and an acoustic camera showed the audio shifting around the screen as the action moved.
When can you get one in your living room?
Don’t cancel your soundbar order just yet. So far, the team has only built a prototype, though it has secured a Korean patent and published its research.
The good news is that the design is modular. You can join or split the panels depending on how big a screen you need, which opens the door to everything from living room TVs and car displays to exhibits and giant LED walls. Pair a few modules together, and they can even pump out deep, woofer-like bass.
Dr. Dongjoon Kim, who led the research, said the team wants to bring the technology to modular LED tile displays next. If it ever lands in our homes, movie nights could feel a lot more immersive.
RELATED COVERAGE:
for informational purposes only. We do not claim ownership, accuracy, or liability for the content provided. All rights belong to the original publisher.