My Latest Invention

WindSock

A noise canceller.

picture the scene:

A person is lying in bed trying to get a bit of kip, then next thing a dog barks. Woof Woof Woof, the dog says.
The person, slightly frustrated, reaches for the no noise 2000 machine and shortly after, they are back into snooze mode.

What happened here? Well I'll tell you. Windsock had an idea here to get a machine that will pick up and record all the noise in the immediate environment. The machine can then separate and each segragate each sound.
The machine has buttons which each sound is segregated. The person can then tell the machine which noise they want cancelled by pressing said button.
Machine then emits a vibrational frequency that can counter the disruptive noise in your area.

Will it work? Whats wrong with it? Is there potential?

Ron DMC

WindSock wrote: »

Will it work? Whats wrong with it? Is there potential?

There IS certainly potential.

First problem is that most noises consist of far more than one frequency and having to emit multiple frequencies at the same time will be difficult as the sound of e.g. your dog barking changes over time. The machine would have to be accurate to a matter of milliseconds.

Another problem is that of sound waves in their nature being made up of waves. The counter noise would have to match top of a wave with the bottom of it's own in order to balance them out. This would involve having to pinpoint the distance of the sound, your perceived distance from the sound and match it accordingly.

It's definitely possible but it would involve a massively powerful brain in the machine and a ****load of sensors. Not an easy feat to develop.

*Note that all of the above is from my vague memory of Acoustics lectures a few years back and Leaving Cert physics. Should be taken with a pinch of salt.

copacetic

There is some development out there in this area. As far as I know the main issue at the moment is the placement of the cancelling sounds source and how quickly they react. There is also a constant 'white noise' which would take a bit of getting used to I'd imagine. Does sound like it is only a matter of time though

WindSock

Hmm. Would it be possible then to perhaps cancel all the noise in the area?
screaming.

The cancelling effect could be cancelled as soon as it gets interferance from your mobile phone or smoke alarm and also it picks up on a loved onesvoice that can be preprogrammed into the machine...

The white noise thing would be easy to get used to, as it's not sudden and random like a dog bark or baby

copacetic

It's certainly not impossible to cancel a lot of the noise in a room but it is difficult. Noise cancellation headphones are relatively simple. In a room you would need a lot of speakers and the 'target' is not stationary. The speakers will interfere with each other quite quickly causing loops in the attempt to generate cancelling. It requires more complex directional speakers and control systems obviously.

A lot of work has gone on here by DARPA for submarines etc and it has lead to ongoing work in the area of engine rooms on ships and inside high end cars. Server rooms and farms are another application.

I think it will be a while before there is much more trickle down but it will come.

pullandbang

WindSock wrote: »

A noise canceller.
A person is lying in bed trying to get a bit of kip, then next thing a dog barks. Woof Woof Woof, the dog says.
The person, slightly frustrated, reaches for the no noise 2000 machine and shortly after, they are back into snooze mode.

We already have one of these and we discuss them quite often over in the shooting forum - it's called a rifle:D:D

david

I think the main problem would probably be getting a the machine to replicate the exact out of phase disruptive signal to the human ear. Lag time/latency would make it pretty much unfeasible

SwampThing

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-noise-cancellation.htm

DonJose

Or you could buy noise cancelling headphones

http://www.bose.com/controller?url=/shop_online/headphones/noise_cancelling_headphones/index.jsp

wasper

WindSock wrote: »

A noise canceller.

picture the scene:

A person is lying in bed trying to get a bit of kip, then next thing a dog barks. Woof Woof Woof, the dog says.
The person, slightly frustrated, reaches for the no noise 2000 machine and shortly after, they are back into snooze mode.

What happened here? Well I'll tell you. Windsock had an idea here to get a machine that will pick up and record all the noise in the immediate environment. The machine can then separate and each segragate each sound.
The machine has buttons which each sound is segregated. The person can then tell the machine which noise they want cancelled by pressing said button.
Machine then emits a vibrational frequency that can counter the disruptive noise in your area.

Will it work? Whats wrong with it? Is there potential?

For this to work, the machine should emit a shield to stop the sound reaching your human ears.
I think this is impossible.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

Earplugs?

Cost a couple of euro. No batteries. No hassle.

Das

Impossible. Sound is emmited at different frequencies to be able to be audible. No machine could process like this fast enough to catch all of the sounds. Now if you had some sensors and the machine used triangulation to determine the sound source, it may work.

reunion

ok i don't know much about sound waves only what i did in physics for the Leaving Cert i had a module on electronics so know very little on waves, but could you not cancel out all the noise and have speakers that just play specific noise coming in? i.e smoke alarm going off, door bell, phone etc. Have the speakers switch on when they are needed that way you don't hear 'white noise'.

that way it doesn't process the incoming audio, instead it just turns on the audio when needed.

Donny5

reunion wrote: »

ok i don't know much about sound waves only what i did in physics for the Leaving Cert i had a module on electronics so know very little on waves, but could you not cancel out all the noise and have speakers that just play specific noise coming in? i.e smoke alarm going off, door bell, phone etc. Have the speakers switch on when they are needed that way you don't hear 'white noise'.

that way it doesn't process the incoming audio, instead it just turns on the audio when needed.

It would still need to process all the sound waves in the area in order to cancel them. You could do the above with sound proofing and a selective PA.

reunion

Donny5 wrote: »

It would still need to process all the sound waves in the area in order to cancel them. You could do the above with sound proofing and a selective PA.

i meant that you would make it air tight to cancel the noise... tbh i don't know much on the subject

GreeBo

WindSock wrote: »

The white noise thing would be easy to get used to, as it's not sudden and random like a dog bark or baby

While its easy to get used to or fall asleep to its just as tiring to your ears as listening to any other noise. A couple of hours of this (on a plane for example) and your ears will know all about it.

Panda

sounds like the type of gadget that would probably be prohibitively expensive

another solutions to annoying noises

http://nerdapproved.com/misc-gadgets/white-noise-lamp-soothes-the-eldery-and-the-insane/

theres other white noise emitting gadgets but its a bit pointless really,
shortly after seeing this lamp white noise combo i was annoyed by some noisy neighbours.
since i was in no mood to go talk to assholes i turned on my radio and tuned it to the white noise.
i was already pretty tired so it didnt take me long to get used to and i did sleep well
it probably wouldnt have done the job if i wasnt already tired though...

MOH

WindSock wrote: »

A noise canceller.

picture the scene:

A person is lying in bed trying to get a bit of kip, then next thing a dog barks. Woof Woof Woof, the dog says.
The person, slightly frustrated, reaches for the no noise 2000 machine and shortly after, they are back into snooze mode.

What happened here? Well I'll tell you. Windsock had an idea here to get a machine that will pick up and record all the noise in the immediate environment. The machine can then separate and each segragate each sound.
The machine has buttons which each sound is segregated. The person can then tell the machine which noise they want cancelled by pressing said button.
Machine then emits a vibrational frequency that can counter the disruptive noise in your area.

Will it work? Whats wrong with it? Is there potential?

For me, by the time I wait for the machine to analyse all the sounds, do the required processing, and then I go through them all and pick which one I want to cancel, I'm going to be wide awake anyway. Plus the dog's probably stopped barking.

MOH

Of course, after posting that yesterday I was woken early this morning by a neighbour's bloody dog barking incessantly.

I heartily endorse your product.

copacetic

99c sound curtain app for the iphone basically does the above using headphone with a mic.

http://i.gizmodo.com/5171182/sound-curtain-noise-masking-iphone-app-hands-on

WindSock

copacetic wrote: »

99c sound curtain app for the iphone basically does the above using headphone with a mic.

http://i.gizmodo.com/5171182/sound-curtain-noise-masking-iphone-app-hands-on

Dastards stole my idea. But I don't want to use the headphones, I cant sleep with them on.

NoSummer

DOnt some computer fans do this already?

Capt'n Midnight

the whole concept is called anti-noise been used for years in helicopters

studiorat

They use similar in computer fans alright and there was discussion about uses in commercial aircraft.

It works perfectly well with headphones btw. Electronic noise hum etc is also removed from microphone cables by a thing called "common mode rejection"

You could easily set it up for noise coming through say your window with bits and pieces from the local electronics store, but you'd have to put your head in a vice so it didn't move for it to work properly. If you moved you'd move out of the null and hear the sound again. You'd need another system for noise coming through the door aswell.

If noise from outside is bothering you you could always try Xanax or similar.

Capt'n Midnight

http://xkcd.com/316/

ArphaRima

White noise gives really bad sleep. You wont be nearly as well rested as by natural sleep. And yes, the dog barking will wake you, but earplugs are FAR better.

FuzzyWuzzyWazza

Sound can't travel in a vaccum, so all u gotta do is sleep in a vaccum and you'll be alright!!

Capt'n Midnight

FuzzyWuzzyWazza wrote: »

Sound can't travel in a vaccum, so all u gotta do is sleep in a vaccum and you'll be alright!!

Wouldn't that make your ears pop ?