
Researchers create personalised sound projector with $12 webcam - lelf
https://techxplore.com/news/2019-08-first-ever-personalised-projector-webcam.html
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SeriousM
And here, right now, we see the rise of personalized ads for every shop front.
"you look hungry, what about eat at our restaurant?" "we have the perfect skin
camouflage for your [white, black, brown, yellow] skin tone" "we see you will
give birth soon, buy diapers now"

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fourthark
_In addition, our method has been designed to require user consent in order to
function. This requirement ensures the technology cannot be used intrusively,
nor deliver sound to an unwilling audience._

Golly I hope so.

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AstralStorm
Reading between the lines, is by removing a trivial module you can use it
without anyone's consent.

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adrianN
This is a legal problem, not a technological problem.

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mbrumlow
I am not even sure it is a legal problem. How can the prohibit the creation of
similar devices and limit their use?

In any case the approach is new, but we have had targeted audio for some time.
Another method used in the past was done by two hyper sonic waves that when
combined would reconstitute into a lower frequency. I forget all the details
but it it nearly placed the sound in your head.

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debatem1
The same way they do a bajillion other products? You make it illegal, then you
fine anyone who flouts the rule or throw them in jail.

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mbrumlow
What I am pointing out that the article talked about how they did something
special to make it require consent. I don't think they have any legal grounds
for preventing the use of, or could they alone pass a law.

I think you would have a hard time making this illegal in the US, as I am sure
somebody will tie it to freedom of speech. If a bull horn is legal, then this
for sure would also be legal.

It wold also be a legal quagmire depending on how the law would be worded.
"Use of directional sound is prohibited."? Simply aiming my mouth at you is
doing the same. There are also more than one way to achieve directional sound.
I think it was at Fry's -- in their checkout line, they have highly
directional speakers that aim down and talk to you, move a few feet either way
and you no longer can hear a thing.

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debatem1
Public nuisance laws already on the books would likely do the trick. To use
your example, it is already perfectly legal to own a bullhorn and even to
carry it around downtown, but if I start setting it off outside a restaurant
I'm going for a stay with the police pretty quickly.

Those laws are for sure not without theoretical constitutional issues, but in
practice work well enough to keep the lid on.

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mbrumlow
Fairly sure YouTube is full of videos doing exactly what you described and no
police stopped in.

Simply put, targeted protesting...

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debatem1
Even the idiots on YouTube are mostly smart enough to pack it in once they get
too much attention. An installed device does not have that luxury-- nor, under
your argument, should it need it.

If your claim is that you could stand outside a restaurant blowing a bullhorn
at patrons and passers-by for long enough to get caught doing it and that
there would be no repercussions, I think you're mad.

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timthorn
Students at Southampton have done a similar thing with wavefront generation
and are commercialising it:
[http://www.audioscenic.com](http://www.audioscenic.com)

~~~
kchamplewski
I've had the opportunity to experience theirs and it really was quite a unique
experience - the locality of the audio was comparable to over-ear headphones
(although the quality wasn't quite as good, but that's to be expected with
most speakers). It'll definitely be interesting to see what kind of products
they can get to market with this.

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harimau777
Hmm, I could see some more sci-fi, dystopian applications:

\- Gaslight someone by making them hear voices

\- Threaten someone then arrest them when they attack since to bystanders it
appears to be unprovoked

\- Similar to the previous one, provoke/trick protestors into "unprovoked"
violence

\- Trick someone into walking into oncoming traffic

\- Harass someone without anyone else noticing

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tzs
Making people hear voices has been done for advertising [1]. Here's a video of
what it sounded like [2].

[1] [https://adage.com/article/news/hear-voices-
ad/122491](https://adage.com/article/news/hear-voices-ad/122491)

[2]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwAeb3RBZ1Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwAeb3RBZ1Y)

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berbec
I'll buy one the second it hits the market. Beamform the television sound only
to {my wife, me} so {I, she} can sleep!

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harry8
Man have i got some epic tech for you! Headphones, you're going to love them!
They even can work without wires... ;-)

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Keyframe
They aren't as comfortable in hot and/or humid areas.

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StavrosK
I got some in-ear ones for $30 and they're amazing, I'm in love. Great
quality, they always just work, and they're super convenient.

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Stephen304
The article refers to 3D printed acoustic lenses, and previous research also
uses 3D printed lenses
([https://courses.physics.illinois.edu/phys406/sp2017/Student_...](https://courses.physics.illinois.edu/phys406/sp2017/Student_Projects/Spring16/Dan_Gandy_Guangya_Niu_Physics_406_Final_Report_Sp16.pdf))

Does anybody know if any of the files for these are public? I think it would
be fun to experiment with this idea at home.

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soneca
I understood correctly that are two innovations here? The face-tracking and
the ability to direct sound precisely.

I would be very interested in the sound direction solely. My use case is to
project sound to me, in a bed, without my wife, sleeping next to me, hearing a
thing. I like to sleep with music and she doesn't. A directed alarm would be
nice too.

Is this technology already available some where?

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mmikeff
Can I please have an electric car that is silent to everyone except
people/animals that might need to be warned?

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NikkiA
The '6cm diameter sphere in front of the target' is kind of confusing, since
most people's ears are further than 6cm apart and not 'in front of them'. I
suppose this is a way that the whole thing isn't quite ready for 'personalised
ads' just yet.

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raihansaputra
Will that be their maximum precision? If they can target a 6cm sphere, they
probably can adjust to a larger volume.

~~~
NikkiA
I don't know, it seems a small goal to aim for if they specifically chose 6cm,
so it'd seem like it's a (current) limitation of what they're doing. It
doesn't seem like it'd be a limit that'd be too hard to increase though.

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ctack
More about the metamaterials and sound lens tech here:
[https://phys.org/news/2019-05-academics-spotlight-lego-
like-...](https://phys.org/news/2019-05-academics-spotlight-lego-like-
bricks.html)

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adam0c
so what stops people intercepting these audio messages, using the same idea
you could use a parabolic mic to track and hear the individuals audio

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AstralStorm
Shape of the wavefront. It is very directional elliptical, you would need very
high sensitivity microphone to attempt a capture off angle.

Directivity is about -50 dB off axis potentially. You can further enhance it
some with active noise cancellation.

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TeMPOraL
What about capturing sound as it scatters on the listener's head?

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SiempreViernes
I guess you need a good model of their head to post process a readable message
out of the distorted audio.

