AUDIO SPOTLIGHTING

A SEMINAR REPORT

Submitted in partial fulfillment of

the requirements for the award of degree of

BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
in
ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING
by

WINSTON NETTO (SEE – 1697)

SCMS SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY

(Affiliated to M.G University)
VIDYA NAGAR, PALISSERY, KARUKUTTY
ERNAKULAM-683 582
JULY 2009
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the seminar work entitled

AUDIO SPOTLIGHTING

was presented by WINSTON NETTO SEE - 1697 of the Seventh

semester Electrical and Electronics Engineering in partial fulfillment of the
requirement for the award of Bachelor of Technology Degree in Electrical and
Electronics Engineering under Mahatma Gandhi University during the
year 2009 – 2010 under my guidance at SCMS School of Engineering and
Technology, Karukutty.

Head of Department
Faculty in Charge Electrical and Electronics Engineering
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It is with great enthusiasm and learning spirit that I bring out this seminar
report. I also feel that it’s the right opportunity to acknowledge the support and
guidance that came in for various quarters during the course of completion of
my seminar.

I express my gratitude to Head of Department (EEE) for rendering me all

facilities and guiding me right through the end for the successful completion of
the work.

I express my gratitude to CHRISMOL PAUL, Grade-I Lecturer, EEE

department for guiding me right through the end for the successful completion
of the seminar.

I am also obliged to the faculty of Electrical and Electronics Department, for

giving me their timely suggestions in my venture. Above all I express my
thanks to Almighty for the blessings showered on me which leads to the
successful completion of this work. Despite the best efforts put in by me, it is
possible that some unintentional errors might have eluded me. I shall
acknowledge with any such errors if pointed out.
 ABSTRACT

Audio spot lighting is a very recent technology that creates focused beams of sound similar
to light beams coming out of a flashlight. By ‘shining’ sound to one location, specific
listeners can be targeted with sound without others nearby hearing it. It uses a non-linear
acoustics for its working. But it is real and is better than any conventional loud speaker.
This acoustic device comprises a speaker that fires inaudible ultrasound pulses with very
small wavelength which act in a manner very similar to that of a narrow column. The ultra
sound beam acts as an airborne speaker. Holosonic Research Labs invented the Audio
Spotlight that is made of a sound processor, an amplifier and the transducer. This use
ultrasound based solutions to beam sound into a focused beam. Audio spotlight can be
either directed at a particular listener or to a point where it is reflected. The targeted or
directed audio technology is going to a attain a huge commercial market in entertainment
and consumer electronics and technology. Being the most recent and dramatic change in the
way we perceive sound, audio spot light technology can do many miracles in various fields
like, Home theatre audio system, Navy and military applications, museum displays etc.
Thus audio spotlighting helps us to control where sound comes from and where it goes.
 INDEX

SL NO. CONTENTS PAGE NO.

1 INTRODUCTION 1

2 THEORY 2

3 TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW 3

4 RANGE OF HEARING 5

5 WORKING 6

6 BEAM DISPERSION 9

7 10

8 MODES OF LISTENING 13

9 ADVANTAGES 14

10 APPLICATIONS 15

11 FUTURE OF AUDIO SPOTLIGHTING 17

12 CONCLUSION 18

13 REFERENCE 19
 LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE NO. FIGURE NAME PAGE NO.

1 PROPAGATION OF SOUND BEAM 2

2 CONVENTIONAL SPEAKERS 4

3 AUDIO SPOTLIGHTING SPEAKERS 4

4 RANGE OF HEARING 5

5 AUDIO SPOTLIGHTING EMITTER 6

6 DIRECTIVITY 7

7 COMPUTER SIMULATION OF SOUND BEAM 9

8 DISPERSION OF SOUND BEAM 11

9 10

10 PARAMETRIC LOUDSPEAKER 12

11 DIRECTEC AND PROJECTED AUDIO 13

 INTRODUCTION

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volume (sound level) that trade show use demands, it is recommended that the Audio
Spotlight speaker, more accurately called a transducer, is mounted no more than 3 meters
from the average listeners ears, or 5 meters in the air. The mounting hardware is constructed
with a ball joint so that the Audio Spotlights are easily aimed wherever the sound is desired.

FIG 7: COMPUTER SIMULATION OF SOUND BEAM

 FIG 8: DISPERSION OF SOUND BEAM

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propagate the ultrasonic signals from the emitter and thereby to exploit the nonlinearity
property of air.

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 FUTURE OF AUDIO SPOTLIGHTING

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 CONCLUSION

Audio spotlighting is really going to make a revolution in sound transmission

and the user can decide the path in which audio signal should propagate.
Due to the unidirectional propagation it finds application in large number of
fields. Audio spotlighting system is going to shape the future of sound and will
serve our ears with magical experience.
+ F. Joseph Pompei. The use of airborne ultrasonics for generating audible sound beams.
Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, P. J. Westervelt. Parametric acoustic array.
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.
Thomas D. Kite, John T. Post, and Mark F. Hamilton. Parametric array in air: Distortion
reduction by preprocessing. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.
) Jacqueline Naze Tjotta and Sigve Tjotta. Nonlinear interaction of two collinear,
spherically spreading sound beams.
> www.silentsound.co.za – Silent sound
/ www.wikipedia.org - Sound from Ultrasound
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. www.howstuffworks.com
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