It may someday be possible to listen to a favorite podcast or song without disturbing the people around you, even without wearing headphones. In a new advancement in audio engineering, a team of researchers led by Yun Jing, professor of acoustics in the Penn State College of Engineering, has precisely narrowed where sound is perceived by creating localized pockets of sound zones, called audible enclaves. In an enclave, a listener can hear sound, while others standing nearby cannot, even if the people are in an enclosed space, like a vehicle, or standing directly in front of the audio source.

  • AA5B@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    At wrk we have alcoves for more casual meetings or just getting away from your desk, that are surprisingly good at localizing the sound

  • don@lemm.ee
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    3 days ago

    Probably won’t do anything about those who actively want everyone else around to hear what they’re listening to.

  • rottingleaf@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    I just took a short look at the JXTA specification ; JXTA is abandoned and this is the progress people are pursuing. So sad really.

    I mean, yes, comfort is good, yes, this is like a device from Asimov’s Foundation, but the problem is kinda solved by headphones already. And yes, it’s cool.

    (If someone doesn’t know what JXTA is - it’s Sun’s standard for p2p applications, of the “progress of the past that was left unfinished and forgotten” kind, and looking at ZFS, which is a similarly comprehensive thing for filesystems, I have no doubts the world would be better were it finished.)