Can you hear me now?
It's the question cell phone users often ask as they struggle to find adequate reception.
But more than just a frequent annoyance or a clever marketing campaign used by one service provider, the question does underscore a universal truth about cell phones: Sound is everything.
And as more functions and features -- digital music, games and even TV or other video content -- make their way onto mobile phones, improving the audio quality has become a notable goal for the cell phone industry.
At DEMO, an annual technology conference held in Scottsdale, Ariz., a British startup company demonstrated what could be the next step up in cellular sound.
Engineers at Sonaptic Ltd. have developed a new set of chips and software that can reproduce 3-D sound that seems to encompass the listener. The technology, says Sonaptic's managing director David Monteith, is based on the science of "psychoacoustics."
"It's a digital process of using complex algorithms and calculations to trick your brain into believing it is hearing sounds from all around," says Monteith.
To achieve this sound effect, psychoacoustic designers study the mechanics of human hearing. "They look at the shape of the inner and outer ears, how the head and skull conducts sound, and how all this is interpreted by the brain," says Monteith.
For example, one of the reasons the human brain can distinguish sounds emanating from different locations -- say, a chirping bird in front of a person and the rumble of a truck approaching from the left -- is because of the spacing between the two ears.
