Recovering Sound From Video With No Audio

You guys have to see this to believe it. Thanks to Ocean for the link.

Wow thats like some secret James Bond or NSA stuff right there! Makes me want to go to their website to get the code and see if this is really real.

First thing that came to mind was the supposed "Clay Pot" recordings from 5000 year old clay pots, but I do believe that was just an April fools joke.

Looks like it needs a very still camera and a higher framerate than most video.
I wouldnt worry about being videod from a drone... just yet
But telescopes with iPhones!

Eagle Eye had this already.

Nenu said:

Looks like it needs a very still camera and a higher framerate than most video.

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and they mention a "Laser Doppler Vibrometer" at the bottom of the page, dunno how they use that though, point it at the screen with the video.

Technology that accomplishes the same thing in an albeit much more simple fashion (laser/IR reading window vibrations) was invented in the Soviet Union back in the late 40s. Cool trick though.

I wonder what potential applications are? I guess it would be of use in synchronizing audio and video tracks very precisely. Thats probably already figured out though...

Perhaps FINALLY I will get to listen to Cranky Geek's episode 149!!

JCD has been waiting over 5 years.. don't make him wait any longer!!

Bull fucking shit. Do you have any idea how many things in the environment create and affect these micro-vibrations. I mean, a cat could fart and it'd be all over.

Megalith said:

Bull fucking shit. Do you have any idea how many things in the environment create and affect these micro-vibrations. I mean, a cat could fart and it'd be all over.

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Did you observe the video that shows the actual results?
Can you state what is bs and why?

Law enforcement could use this to find missing and exploited victims when they are able to recover say a video tape of a crime and the audio was removed to hide where it was filmed at. This is pretty darn awesome if you ask me!

Likewise I can see some poor bastard going to jail for being a terrorist when they analyze the vibrations on a bag of chips in his house.

Smells like government tech

That is some seriously awesome technology. I figured something like this would of been scooped up by some government and kept secret for decades O_O

Unsurprising. But not really viable.

Still cool though.

Nenu said:

Looks like it needs a very still camera and a higher framerate than most video.
I wouldnt worry about being videod from a drone... just yet
But telescopes with iPhones!

Click to expand...

Watch the video again the last test was done on consumer grade cameras at 60 fps this is some creepy shit they did something like this on fringe...

A few more years development they won't need to target things like candy wrappers and leaves and it will clear up in quality too. I can't think of a way to block this. Paint windows black they get the vibrations from the windows I suppose a small vibrating motor could be attached to the window. Combine this tech with a laser mic...

Nenu said:

Did you observe the video that shows the actual results?
Can you state what is bs and why?

Click to expand...

I think what he means is that, these are very VERY controlled environments, in the real world you have SO much that will result in vibrations of these items. Think the empty chip bag, what do you think would happen to those ultra fine vibrations once the A/C kicked on? Considering the controlled environments and the result from the video, while most of the audio can be heard, think of all the extra noise, movements etc etc you would have to deal with and try and filter out? Your audio just got allot more muddy or maybe even indistinguishable from anything else.

BlueFireIce said:

I think what he means is that, these are very VERY controlled environments, in the real world you have SO much that will result in vibrations of these items. Think the empty chip bag, what do you think would happen to those ultra fine vibrations once the A/C kicked on? Considering the controlled environments and the result from the video, while most of the audio can be heard, think of all the extra noise, movements etc etc you would have to deal with and try and filter out? Your audio just got allot more muddy or maybe even indistinguishable from anything else.

Click to expand...

I donno with enough development combined with advances in cellphone cameras i mean they are at 16-40 megapixel now imagine in 2-3 years it will be common for cell phones to have 40+ megapixel and do 60 fps now. If they advance it more and say limit it to 5MP at 500-1000fps.

BlueFireIce said:

I think what he means is that, these are very VERY controlled environments, in the real world you have SO much that will result in vibrations of these items. Think the empty chip bag, what do you think would happen to those ultra fine vibrations once the A/C kicked on? Considering the controlled environments and the result from the video, while most of the audio can be heard, think of all the extra noise, movements etc etc you would have to deal with and try and filter out? Your audio just got allot more muddy or maybe even indistinguishable from anything else.

Click to expand...

The results shown are using a rudimentary setup.
They have left in higher and lower frequency noise and harmonics in and the result was still useful.
Just filtering those out could help a lot.
There are many other types of filtering that will further improve it.

If this is taken seriously, I would expect the use of more than one laser on different places and further development of the software to extract audio detail. (and other improvements)
Some unwanted sounds can be sourced directionally and extracted and even their proximity determined by how the amplitude diminishes with direction.
I anticipate that some much louder noises will dominate similarly as they do for our ears, though when at very different frequencies, they matter less as they are easier to filter out.
But they can still affect maximum movement of an object and saturate smaller signal detection.

None of what they showed is bs.
The problem is with how he interprets its use in the current form.
Maybe it wont end up that useful, but computers are extremely fast and data acquisition development isnt slowing down.
I think its a lot too soon to call this one out.

There isnt a fantastic need for it by law enforcement, directional (long distance or say only through a wall) and positional mics can solve most needs.
For example, a "sticky" microphone can be shot in to an area when nobody is around, or perhaps even when people are there.
A directional mic can be placed on the other side of a suspects wall.
A mic on a pipe leading from a room could work well.

Spies and industrial espionage might have more of a need to gather information without being anywhere near the location.

Now if they start gathering sound waves around bends ...

Also works with hair and eye-lashes. Just keep hitting that ENHANCE button.