February 12, 2005
Cell phones get surround sound
A new line of multimedia phones has hit the streets in Japan over the past few weeks that incorporates three-dimensional sound technology from British start-up Sonaptic, reports News.com.
As yet, the content for it is slim--a fishing game, a handful of sound and video clips--but the technology promises a substantial advance for mobile-phone audio.
The Sonaptic technology is based on the science of "psychoacoustics," which essentially studies precisely how sound waves interact with the ear in order to create sound effects.
The Sonaptic technique, as with other related technologies, is drawn from a study of exactly how the ear and brain perceive where a sound is coming from the shape and strengths of sound waves. In practice, what this means is that a cell phone with two little speakers can create the illusion of sound around a listener. "
Related articles on surround sound:
-- Mobile Operators Seek Higher Sound Quality - Japanese mobile operators are taking phone sound systems to the next level with stereo-quality songs that can be fully downloaded and edited, as well as surround-sound systems that trick users into hearing a bell ringing behind them or a ball whizzing by.
-- Surround Sound on your mobile - QUALCOMM and QSound Labs have licensed technology to integrate audio enhancers into mobile chips enhancing the quality of streaming audio, music playback, ringtones and online gaming services.
-- Phonic Surround-Sound Ring Tone Service for Mobile Phones - Dwango Japan, developer of wireless applications and technology for users of next-generation mobile devices, "will be launching a ring tone delivery service for mobile phones on June 11, offering melody and voice ring tones in 3D-phonic sound.gaming.
-- Stimulating Mobile Experiences - Dual speaker technology will create live surround-sound with the phone's 3D polyphonic speaker system.
The Permanent Link to this page is: http://www.textually.org/ringtonia/archives/2005/02/007090.htm