New Technology Converts Ink Into Sound!

The printed paper when connected to an audio amplifier give us a considerably loud sound. 

We have seen flexible electronic circuits from Xerox and also flexible organic flash memory from Tokyo University in the past. But it seems that a German researcher could be the first to commercialise electronics printed on a sheet of paper. Professor Hübler, who runs a research and development group at the Chemnitz University (pmTUC) in Germany, has come up with a new technology that converts ink into sound. The newly developed ink makes it possible to produce flat speakers or printed solar cells.  The printed paper loudspeaker is connected to an audio amplifier like a conventional loudspeaker. "Frequency response and hence sound quality are very good and the paper is surprisingly loud. Just the bass of the paper-based loudspeaker is a bit weak,” explains Dr Georg Schmidt, senior researcher at pmTUC. The thin loudspeakers, which are printed in the laboratories of pmTUC, contain several layers of a conductive organic polymer and a piezoactive layer.

According to project assistant Maxi Bellmann, the loudspeakers can be produced in a very cheap way as mass printing methods are used. It is possible to print coloured messages on unused space available at the bottom side of the paper loudspeaker.

New applications 
The paper loudspeakers could be integrated into common print products. They also look promising for the advertising segment. "In addition, sound wallpapers and purely technical applications, e.g., distance sensors, are possible, because the papers are also active in the ultrasound range,” says Hübler and adds: "As printing allows for different formats and forms, there is the possibility to influence the generated sound waves.” 

Glass-free 3D screens come closer to reality

You may soon have to do away with your 3D glasses, as researchers including one of Indian origin are trying to develop images that work no matter where you are in the room could see images stand out from a flat TV screen without the need for any silly eyeware.

Prof Ramesh Raskar at MIT's Media Lab, who led the project, explained that in order to make this type of tridimensional illusion work, it was necessary to split 3D into two 2D images in a wide spectrum of view.

Afterwards, the advanced math kicks in by speedily calculating which of the two 2D pictures the audience needs to see first and second at every angle, 3D TV Watcher reported.

This is followed by light going through small lenses and a few layers of liquid crystal displays before being sorted into two categories - transparent and opaque - and at last reaching the viewer's eye at very high rates.

The scheme itself has been conducted with the goal of widening the viewing angle combinations.