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sound

Baby Tech: Angel Care Movement Sensor with Sound Monitor

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is one of the leading causes of death among infants under the age of one in the United States; one of the reasons why parents worry so much when placing their infant down for a nap. Countless parents are advised to swaddle their babies or they are advised not to place objects such as pillows and stuffed animals in the crib with the baby. Most importantly one must put their baby to sleep on his/her back. Many parents, especially new parents, have so many things to worry about when it comes to the safety of … Read more

Plantronics gaming headset puts a Dolby theater in your ears

Here's a way to have surround sound audio, but still keep it all to yourself.

Beginning later this month, peripherals maker Plantronics will start shipping its Gamecom 777 headset, which simulates 5.1 channel audio through just two channels--your left and right headphone speakers.

The intention is to enable PC gamers to play games with the sound happening around them, and not directly in their ears. That enables longer listening time--less "listening fatigue," to use industry parlance--and therefore longer gaming sessions.

I got a personal demonstration at the Dolby Theater here in San Francisco (see photo), along … Read more

EQ presets are for sissies

That's right, I said it. You want to know why Steve Jobs doesn't include advanced EQ settings on the iPod? It's because he thinks you're a drooling baby who can't be trusted not to mangle your own music. Considering how few of you care enough to slap a decent pair of earbuds on your MP3 player, he may have the right idea.

Truth is, in this iPod-dominated world, most listeners aren't aware of all the cool sound-enhancement technology being developed for non-iPod MP3 players. For those who yearn to take your music to new … Read more

Report: Fees may sink Pandora soon

Tim Westergren, the founder of popular Web radio start-up Pandora, has said in an interview with The Washington Post that his company may be close to a shutdown.

"We're approaching a pull-the-plug kind of decision," Westergren said in the article, published Saturday. "This is like a last stand for webcasting."

The problem, he explained, is last year's royalty hike for Web radio, which makes it extremely expensive for an independent start-up to stay afloat in the business. The royalty increase will eat up 70 percent of Pandora's $25 million in revenue, Westergren said.… Read more

Lotus 'Safe & Sound' system makes quiet vehicles audible

Due to the almost silent operation of hybrid and electric vehicles running on electric power at slow speeds, blind and partially sighted pedestrians may be at risk while crossing roads or walking through parking lots since they cannot hear the vehicles as they approach.

Lotus Engineering, a name most commonly associated with lightweight sports cars, has announced that it has developed a system to synthesize external sound on electric and hybrid vehicles to make them more audible to pedestrians and cyclists. A simulation of a real engine sound is used on Lotus' Safe & Sound Hybrid technology demonstrator vehicle, making … Read more

The world's biggest subwoofer

Danley Sound Labs' Matterhorn Subwoofer may be the world's biggest--at least I hope it is. The mother of all subs has 40,000 watts of power, and the whole thing is built into a 20x8x8 foot shipping container. I guess that makes it easy to return when you blow it up! It looks like too much of a good thing to me.

More is just more; it's not necessarily better. True, the more drivers a sub has the lower the distortion, but I think the Matterhorn may have passed the point of diminishing returns. Just kidding, the Matterhorn … Read more

Surround-sound technology explained

The first time I met Tomlinson Holman was in the late 1970s, when he was in the high-end audio business. He designed electronics but went on to bigger and better things when he developed THX Sound for Lucasfilm. Later, I heard his experimental 10.2 channel sound system, and I came away with a whole new appreciation of his genius. Tom Holman is Mr. Surround Sound.

His newly revised book, Surround Sound, Up and Running provides an extensive overview on the subject. It was written for recording engineers and producers, but technically inclined home theater enthusiasts will gain new insight … Read more

Ear Force X4: Surround headphones for the Xbox 360

Turtle Beach has just unveiled its latest surround sound headset for the Xbox 360. The Ear Force X4 offers a wireless connection to the 360 (thanks to a separate base station) and it doubles as an Xbox Live communicator for chatting during multiplayer games (the microphone and headphone-to-controller tether can be removed during solo gameplay). The Ear Force X4 delivers full Dolby Digital and Dolby Pro Logic II surround decoding, and the standard optical digital and analog stereo inputs mean that it can be connected to virtually any other audiovisual source beyond the Xbox 360.

While previous Xbox-centric Ear Force … Read more