This System Of Soundwaves Can Create 3D Images

The images can also stimulate other senses like touch.

A new system of sound waves can create 3D images and even stimulate other senses like touch.

The system of special waves is called the Multimodal Acoustic Trap Display (MATD) and was created by researchers from the University of Sussex. It produces an image visible from any angle, not unlike the hologram seen in the “Star Wars” movies.

“Our new technology takes inspiration from old TVs which use a single colour beam scanning along the screen so quickly that your brain registers it as a single image,” lead author and University of Sussex Rutherford Fellow Dr. Ryuiji Hirayama explained. “Our prototype does the same using a coloured particle that can move so quickly anywhere in 3D space that the naked eye sees a volumetric image in mid-air.”

MATD is made up of 512 speakers that emit sound in the ultrasonic range, which humans can’t hear. The time difference between each speaker generates a trap that holds a particle in place. The speakers then change the trap’s position so that the particle moves, thus generating the 3D content.

In addition to producing an image, the system can also create audible noises and even concentrate vibrations to a certain spot on the image, so that touch can also be stimulated.

With more work, the system could one day be implemented as a helpful visualization tool for jobs and presentations.

“Display without a screen is remarkably versatile and useful,” Brigham Young University Associate Professor Daniel Smalley explained. ““It means that everybody in the room can see the image—any perspective, location—and that’s extremely helpful.”