Son fantome by af studio from france

Son Fantôme explores a new way to listen to sound and music as well as a new way to manipulate sound based on the technology of parametric speakers. This peculiar type of speakers produces a very narrow beam of sound that can be aimed to be only audible in a defined part of a space. Already used in exhibition design, this remarkable technology has not met yet a larger public and could be adapted for a domestic context to create a new kind of personal listening that doesn’t bother other people without isolating the listener from them. The beam of sound created by these speakers reacts in a way quite similar to a light beam : it can be reflected, absorbed or diffused according to the type of surface it meets. Thus, one could imagine to orient the sound in space or modify its intensity simply by manipulating a specifically designed reflective surface.

This very physical and material manipulation of sound is what matters for us, it is a way to give a new presence, a new sensitivity to this digital information. It materializes an invisible phenomena and in that way enhances senses

We chose to focus on glass, as this material, in its most common form as smooth plate and because of its high density, is a very good reflector for sound.
From this observation, we’ve been working on the possibility to create an anechoic surface (a surface that can absorb sound) by molding specific patterns out of glass. This type of anechoic pattern already exists in other materials, but our goal is to create a single molded plate of glass that contains both smooth and textured area, and therefore is both a reflector and a sound absorber. The texture is both functional and ornemental : the physical contraints generates a strong visual aesthetics reinforced by the material qualities inherent to glass (colour, transparency, reflectivity, ...).

We propose two variations on this principle, two types of speakers : a small desk speaker and a mural speaker. Both possess the same characteristics : they’re composed of a molded glass plate, that remains fix, and the speaker block (anodized aluminium) that can be manipulated (rotated and/or translated) to hit the textured or the smooth part of the plate and modify the angle of reflection of sound.
These two objects present a radically new aesthetic and interaction to sound, in an object where matter and technology meet in a simple and unusual way.

NB : We based our study so far on parametric speaker’s developper’s kit available throughout the web and that are specifically designed to let designers and makers experiment with it for a relatively low-cost.