MIT engineers develop a speaker as thin as paper and capable of transforming any surface into an audio source – FayerWayer

A group of engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a paper-thin speaker that is not only portable, but also capable of transforming almost any surface into an audio source.

In a report, the website of TechEBlog explains that, despite how thin the speaker is, can generate minimal distortion while using only a fraction of the power required by its traditional counterpart.

The best thing regarding this creation of the MIT experts is that weighs as much as a dime and can generate high-fidelity audio, regardless of the surface the film is adhered to.

Vladimir Bulović, leader of the Laboratory for Organic and Nanostructured Electronics (ONE Lab), said that this speaker only needs a pinch of electricity to work.

“It feels extraordinary to take what looks like a thin sheet of paper, attach two paperclips to it, plug it into your computer’s headphone port, and start listening to sounds emanating from it. Can be used anywhere. One only needs a pinch of electrical power to make it work”, detailed Bulović.

Music in three simple steps

For experts, the most surprising thing regarding this speaker is that with three simple steps, the user will be able to enjoy their favorite music: take the sheet of paper, attach the clips to it and connect it to the headphone port of their electronic device.

This speaker can be scaled to the required size for use in either a car or a bicycle. Even if this technology is used to cover an aircraft cabin, it might possibly provide active noise cancellation by generating sound of the same amplitude, but opposite phase, canceling each other out.

“MIT engineers have developed a paper-thin speaker that turns any surface into an audio source. This thin-film speaker produces sound with minimal distortion while using a fraction of the power required by a traditional speaker.”, explains MIT on its YouTube channel, in which it publishes a video regarding the loudspeaker, very similar to Panasonic’s SoundSlayer.