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Headphones may last move past centuries ' old applied science thanks to a new case of micro - speaker that use supersonic waves . The young audio cow dung could pave the path for haphazardness - cancel earbuds that can also repair the conjuring trick of audio fare from multiple directions .

The inauguration xMEMS first showcased its audio chip Cypress — which measures roughly 0.25 inch by 0.25 in ( 6.3 by 6.5 millimeters ) — at CES 2024 on Jan. 9 . It will make its room into earbuds and headphones by the end of next class , company congresswoman told Live Science .

Illustration of a transparent earphone with the new audio chip inside.

The startup xMEMS first showcased its audio chip Cypress at CES 2024 on Jan 9.

In conventional Speaker , a metallic coil is wrapped around a magnet , and an electric current passes through the curl . The electromagnetics generated by the passing current interacts with the magnetism of the permanent magnet , which pushes the coil back and off like a Walter Piston . This spiral is also attached to a speaker cone , or diaphragm , which push airwave to get speech sound . The engineering was first proposed in the 1800s , but it ’s still used in earphone today .

However , speakers designed this way are prostrate to harm , assume - and - tear and issues such as phase angle distortion — in which the shape of the sound waveform changes during the signal - conversion process , creating a lag and induce blur sound .

The Cypress micro - utterer , on the other hand , is a Si chip with two components : an software - specific integrated electric circuit ( ASIC ) , which process the electric sign from a sound file ; and an supersonic transducer . This latter component translates the signaling into level-headed undulation using the piezoelectric effect — in which a material change mass ( or moves ) when a stream is applied to it .

Small chip placed on the center of a fingertip.

According to comapany representatives, the new audio chip will make its way into earbuds and headphones by the end of next year.

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The transducer is made of micro - electromechanical systems ( MEMS ) — microscopic machines that integrate electronic and moving theatrical role . They are widely used in consumer electronics such as buzzers and sound receivers .

Like older technologies , the Cypress transducer moves air to father healthy waves . Unlike most mem , though , which are made up of piezoelectric crystals or ceramics , Cypress use a Modern class of thin piezoelectric motion-picture show made from lead zirconate titanate ( PZT ) .

an illustration of sound waves traveling to an ear

The PZT is comprise as a stratum in the semiconductor manufacturing process together with a silicon speaker midriff layer . When applied in this way , the films can produce high - solvent , high - lineament strait , company representatives told Live Science .

The ASIC splintering first meet and construe the electric signals and transmits them to the piezoMEMS transducer . The thin motion picture vibrates at a gamey ultrasonic frequency , generate air pulses that represent to the original audio sign . This generates air force per unit area inside the Cypress chip . lastly , demodulation piezoMEMS valves convert this acoustical Department of Energy into audio at frequencies we can get word .

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Unlike conventional speakers , the loudspeaker system yield shows near - zero phase transmutation , xMEMS voice said in astatement , and is , therefore , more suited to features such as spacial audio , which simulate the experience of being surrounded by speakers in different locations .

a man holds up a computer chip

The Cypress chips could also be used to make sound noise - cancelling engineering , which yield a tailored sound wave to cancel ambient noise . In theory , Cypress ' faster mechanical reaction and near - zero phase coherence should enable high - frequency noises to be canceled , which headphones today sputter to mask . This movement in the Cypress scrap also generates far more vigor and pressure at low frequencies — 40 times more than the company ’s late non - supersonic micro - talker chip   — which equips it with anti - noise want to scratch these sounds .

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