Scientists Invent Noise-Canceling Windows

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Marees

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Speakers set on bars inside the windows cancel out unwanted noise, using technology similar to that in noise-canceling headphones.

The new invention consists of 24 loudspeakers, each 4.5 centimeters wide, fixed in a grid pattern to bars attached to the inside of a window, plus a microphone outside the window. If the microphone detects noise from outside the building, the loudspeakers immediately emit "anti-noise" -- sound waves with an inverted pattern of peaks and troughs compared with the incoming noise. This anti-noise cancels out the incoming sounds, reducing the volume of noise pollution entering the room, even when the window is open.
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https://www.insidescience.org/news/scientists-invent-noise-canceling-windows

The device is currently optimized for sounds that do not change too much over time. It could work for less predictable noises, such as construction machines, although more complex processing is needed for that.

The researchers did caution their device worked poorly against lower-frequency sounds, such as noise from aircraft or electric transformers. These sounds have larger wavelengths, and combating them would require bigger loudspeakers that would obstruct both the views and airflow through the windows, somewhat defeating the purpose of the device. The active noise control technique is also ineffective for frequencies higher than 1,000 hertz, a range that includes birdsong and human voices.


noise-canceling-window-top.jpg
 
Pretty much like noise canceling headphones then.

Great for long drawn out droning noises (like airplane engines). Not so great for sudden noises like kids yelling, dogs barking, thunder or the fireworks everyone in my neighborhood are complaining about lately.

So, if your house is inside an airplane, these ought to work out great!
 
cdabc123 said:
kinda defeats the point of a window... cant ya just pull a vacuum between two planes of glass and have a pretty similar effect?
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I think you'd need to either have pretty thick glass for the sheets to withstand the vacuum, or break it down to small segments with a frame in between, and in that case the frame probably helps carry some of the vibrations that transmit sound...

As with all of these things, it's less of a matter of what you can make work and what you cannot make work, and more of a matter of what can be made to work for the least cost.

We have gotten to the age where software and circuit boards, in large enough quantities, are cheaper to produce than static windows that sit and do nothing.

Don't believe me? Price out an Anderson window and compare it in price to a Raspberry Pi. :p
 
I am disappointed in this thread. I figured that someone had finally figured out how to get no audio out of Microsoft Windows.

On topic: I will say though that there are practical ways to limit noise to homes already. But most of them have been to expensive for most to implement. The issue with this method is that it will have to be less expensive to implement than those other more traditional methods in order for it to have any impact on the market place.
 
I don't think that properly qualifies as a "window" any longer.
 
Good, I'll take two to drown out my drunk ass neighbor.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
I think you'd need to either have pretty thick glass for the sheets to withstand the vacuum, or break it down to small segments with a frame in between, and in that case the frame probably helps carry some of the vibrations that transmit sound...

As with all of these things, it's less of a matter of what you can make work and what you cannot make work, and more of a matter of what can be made to work for the least cost.

We have gotten to the age where software and circuit boards, in large enough quantities, are cheaper to produce than static windows that sit and do nothing.

Don't believe me? Price out an Anderson window and compare it in price to a Raspberry Pi. :p
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sure software and a microcontroller are plenty cheap but a sound driver every few inches can add up the manufacturing and parts cost pretty heavily. I agree you would either need thicker panes or some support I bet you could find a frame matierial that helps with the vibration. besides I still feel a speacker every few inches isnt a great solution concidering you should probrably still be able to see through the window
 
cdabc123 said:
sure software and a microcontroller are plenty cheap but a sound driver every few inches can add up the manufacturing and parts cost pretty heavily. I agree you would either need thicker panes or some support I bet you could find a frame matierial that helps with the vibration. besides I still feel a speacker every few inches isnt a great solution concidering you should probrably still be able to see through the window
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Unless it's just a micro-actuator touching and vibrating the glass, using the glass itself as the speaker?
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
Unless it's just a micro-actuator touching and vibrating the glass, using the glass itself as the speaker?
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Glass likes to resonate I feel if you did that at the center the flexable portions away from the center would resonate with the sound of the outdoors even if the center was doing the opposite. If you were using the center portion as a speaker I believe it would be difficult to replicate the possible distorted sound coming from the outside edge. Possibly why they can make it happen with a grid of speakers and I would assume some software adjusting to the geometry of the window.
 
How is this science, this has been done years and years ago. It has no real practical application.
 
Verge said:
How is this science, this has been done years and years ago. It has no real practical application.
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This literally has been done for decades. This is not new technology. Maybe it's finally been made available for normal consumers, but this is not new.
 
Maybe I am a little fuzzy on what I look for in a window. Mostly that its like its not there, and I can look out at the views. Not a grid of wires and speakers. What kind of hellish waste of time and effort is this endevour.
 
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