An engineering company, Audio Pixels, claims to have developed a "digital" speaker. There web site is located at Technology - Audio Pixels Limited
They claim to have designed a revolutionary technological platform for reproducing sound waves directly from a digital audio stream using low cost micro-electromechanical structures (MEMS), rather than conventional loudspeaker elements, that is only one millimetre thick.
The Company’s MEMS-based Digital Sound Reconstruction platform enables the market for audio speakers to follow the evolution of the video display market from large, heavy analog tube based monitors to the digital flat panel displays of today.
Audio Pixels will produce a single type of chip that can be used either as a standalone speaker or cascaded in any multiples of up to 64 units of the same chip. The number of chips used in any given application is determined by the manufacturer’s desired audio specifications. For example a single chip would more than suffice for a mobile phone, while a manufacturer may choose 6 chips for a television application.
Driving the rationale is the demand for smaller, thinner, clearer sounding, more power-efficient speakers. The key challenge is that for the most part conventional speaker technologies remain deeply rooted in the original voice coil inventions of Alexander Graham Bell.
An Audio Pixels speaker is a MEMS chip roughly 1mm thick. The chip replaces conventional speaker driver(s), enclosure or acoustic chamber, as well as the electronic circuitry associated with converting the digital signal feed to analog (via a D2A + Power Amplifier).
The Audio Pixels speaker consumes a fraction of the power, to produce far better acoustic performance in a substantially smaller package:
• Wider frequency range
• Lower frequencies
• Immeasurable distortion
• Louder sound volume
• Less power consumption
Audio Pixels offers a single chip design that is modular and perfectly predicable and linear. Given that the total number of “pixels” is the only factor determining quality, frequency and sound volume, manufacturers and device designers need only to determine the target acoustic performance and select the appropriate number of speaker chips, which are serialized using a single controller.
At the heart of Audio Pixels technology is an innovative high impedance structure based on a high-efficiency driving mechanism which is capable of producing 10 times the pressure of a conventional speaker of the same surface area, amplitude and frequency.
The sound pressure generated by an Audio Pixels speaker is proportional to the number of operating micro-speakers (“Audio Pixels”) and the throughput of each one. Varying the number of pulses over time produces different frequencies. Unlike analog speakers, individual micro-speakers operate in a non-linear region to maximize dynamic range while still being able to produce low frequency sounds. The net linearity of the array comes from linearity of the acoustic wave equation and uniformity between individual speakers. The overall non-linear components in the generated sound wave have a direct relation to the number of micro-speakers in the device.
Damping: Conventional speakers oscillate long after the input signal is stopped. The heavy membrane transfers only a fraction of its energy into the air and it continues to oscillate for a considerable time before the oscillations decays. In contrast, an Audio Pixels speaker "stops on a dime". The signal is initiated and terminated within one clock cycle.
Vibrations: Due to the high impedance matching of Audio Pixels speakers, a much smaller movement is required to generate the same loudness. The smaller movement of an Audio Pixels speaker generates significantly lower vibration levels. Vibrations are often problematic in sensitive electronics. The reduced vibrations of an Audio Pixels speaker allow much more moderate levels of echo reduction and suppression.
Excellent impedance matching. Maximizes energy conversion (from electrical to acoustic). The theoretical efficiency limit of Audio Pixel speaker is 60%; which is roughly 60 times better than conventional speakers. The improved impedance matching also serves to significantly increase the SPL (Sound Pressure Level), or loudness, achievable from an Audio Pixels speaker when compared to conventional speakers of similar dimensions.
They claim to have designed a revolutionary technological platform for reproducing sound waves directly from a digital audio stream using low cost micro-electromechanical structures (MEMS), rather than conventional loudspeaker elements, that is only one millimetre thick.
The Company’s MEMS-based Digital Sound Reconstruction platform enables the market for audio speakers to follow the evolution of the video display market from large, heavy analog tube based monitors to the digital flat panel displays of today.
Audio Pixels will produce a single type of chip that can be used either as a standalone speaker or cascaded in any multiples of up to 64 units of the same chip. The number of chips used in any given application is determined by the manufacturer’s desired audio specifications. For example a single chip would more than suffice for a mobile phone, while a manufacturer may choose 6 chips for a television application.
Driving the rationale is the demand for smaller, thinner, clearer sounding, more power-efficient speakers. The key challenge is that for the most part conventional speaker technologies remain deeply rooted in the original voice coil inventions of Alexander Graham Bell.
An Audio Pixels speaker is a MEMS chip roughly 1mm thick. The chip replaces conventional speaker driver(s), enclosure or acoustic chamber, as well as the electronic circuitry associated with converting the digital signal feed to analog (via a D2A + Power Amplifier).
The Audio Pixels speaker consumes a fraction of the power, to produce far better acoustic performance in a substantially smaller package:
• Wider frequency range
• Lower frequencies
• Immeasurable distortion
• Louder sound volume
• Less power consumption
Audio Pixels offers a single chip design that is modular and perfectly predicable and linear. Given that the total number of “pixels” is the only factor determining quality, frequency and sound volume, manufacturers and device designers need only to determine the target acoustic performance and select the appropriate number of speaker chips, which are serialized using a single controller.
At the heart of Audio Pixels technology is an innovative high impedance structure based on a high-efficiency driving mechanism which is capable of producing 10 times the pressure of a conventional speaker of the same surface area, amplitude and frequency.
The sound pressure generated by an Audio Pixels speaker is proportional to the number of operating micro-speakers (“Audio Pixels”) and the throughput of each one. Varying the number of pulses over time produces different frequencies. Unlike analog speakers, individual micro-speakers operate in a non-linear region to maximize dynamic range while still being able to produce low frequency sounds. The net linearity of the array comes from linearity of the acoustic wave equation and uniformity between individual speakers. The overall non-linear components in the generated sound wave have a direct relation to the number of micro-speakers in the device.
Damping: Conventional speakers oscillate long after the input signal is stopped. The heavy membrane transfers only a fraction of its energy into the air and it continues to oscillate for a considerable time before the oscillations decays. In contrast, an Audio Pixels speaker "stops on a dime". The signal is initiated and terminated within one clock cycle.
Vibrations: Due to the high impedance matching of Audio Pixels speakers, a much smaller movement is required to generate the same loudness. The smaller movement of an Audio Pixels speaker generates significantly lower vibration levels. Vibrations are often problematic in sensitive electronics. The reduced vibrations of an Audio Pixels speaker allow much more moderate levels of echo reduction and suppression.
Excellent impedance matching. Maximizes energy conversion (from electrical to acoustic). The theoretical efficiency limit of Audio Pixel speaker is 60%; which is roughly 60 times better than conventional speakers. The improved impedance matching also serves to significantly increase the SPL (Sound Pressure Level), or loudness, achievable from an Audio Pixels speaker when compared to conventional speakers of similar dimensions.
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