Patent Review: System and Method for Improved Audio Perception

Sometimes James Croft reviews patents that are hard to understand how could they possibly have materialized. This patent describes a “System and Method for Improved Audio Perception” and was granted to Yair Raz (inventor) on behalf of Innovo IP, LLC (Aventura, FL). The “invention” describes “methods of Audio Signal Personalized Enhancement for optimal listening to music using a combination of hearing test, audio signal compensation, and signal processing algorithms. A description that could easily be applied to dozens of currently available products. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, November 2016.

This article provides a valuable overview of the latest Thin-Film Coatings and Treatments solutions that are available in the market. Highlights include a new a state-of-the-art REACH-compliant CVD coating process from Oerlikon Surface Solutions, applicable on multiple substrates, such as aluminum, titanium, PEEK, and composites, and Nanovate, a metallurgical nano-coating technology based on electrodeposited nano crystalline structural metal from Integra. The report also highlights Antiviral/Antimicrobial Coatings from Integran, Kastus Technologies, and Nanowatt, among others. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, July 2022.

Many product designers and manufacturers in the audio industry the world over have been making huge leaps forward in hardware, software, and interoperability that they have been largely unable to show off thanks to a disruption to live events. Following the return of trade shows in 2022, the lid has been lifted on a whole host of innovations in the pro audio space, and among them Holoplot has emerged as a standout with its X1 Matrix Array sound system. This is an inside account about how the Holoplot team has been pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the pro audio space.

This article offers a valuable inside perspective about developing new diffuser solutions, and lessons learned while designing countless critical listening rooms around the world. A journey that lead to the creation of the PolyFlex diffuser, which will scatter either horizontally or vertically, depending on the orientation, and improve clarity in speech and spatial focus without making a room sound dead and/or small. The author was actively involved in multiple acoustics standards committees, including for testing procedures.

Renowned tube expert Michael Boele offers his long-term review of a pair of 2021 new production 300B directly heated power triodes. For 10 months, Boele had the opportunity to live with and extensively use a pair of these 300Bs and his impressions and extensive testing could be directly contrasted with his considerable collection of 300B tubes - Chinese, Russian, Czech and Slovak clones, as well as several pairs of Westrex/Western Electric reissues, and two “old stock” Western Electrics. This article was originally published in audioXpress, May 2022.

Expanding on previous articles about bass shakers and motion platforms, this article from Mike Klasco (Menlo Scientific) looks at exciting evolutions in haptic transducers and actuators that are being used in a growing number of applications - all of which depend upon audio sources for input. The ability to interact with the world through vibration and touch is central to all of our lives, and now increasingly so. This article was originally published in audioXpress, February 2022.

In this article, James Croft reviews a generic “Loudspeaker” concept patent, granted to Teppei Yamada, of Tokyo, Japan, on behalf of Zorzo Co., Ltd. and which describes a somewhat surprising concept of a loudspeaker that includes a hermetically sealed enclosure, with a driver outside of an enclosure and a second driver inside, with a pipe communicating between the two drivers. The second driver is configured to output a signal of opposite phase to that of the first driver. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, October 2016.

As the audio industry gradually resumed its trade show calendar in result of the global pandemic, Oliver A. Masciarotte offers a report from the 2022 edition of Audio Expo North America, better known as AXPONA - the most important annual hi-fi and high-end audio show in the US. As audio enthusiasts and audiophiles returned once again to listening in person at the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center Hotel, there was a lot to explore in very little time. This article was originally published in audioXpress, July 2022.

In this article, James Croft looks at a patent awarded to David Russell (Toronto, CA); and John French (Caledon, East, CA) on behalf of Audera Acoustics, Inc., Schomberg CA. The patent describes a generic acoustic high displacement transducer system, containing a diaphragm position sensing module, a controller with a transmitter, so that the voice coil moves at least partially in response to the control signal.

This article reviews a patent originally granted to inventors Philip R. Clements; (Tempe, AZ), Boaz Shalev; (Needham, MA), and James Joseph Croft, III; (Bellevue, WA), which has now expired. The patent describes a low-frequency transducer system with a multi-compression chamber, where an inverse horn structure is employed in combination with a resonance-distortion filter chamber. This was the third patent granted on Atlantic Technology’s low frequency system known by the trademark name H-PAS (High Pressure Acceleration System). This article was originally published in Voice Coil, September 2016.