A soundless sound system

Elwood ?Woody? Norris pointed a metal frequency emitter at one of perhaps 30 people who had come to see his invention. The emitter ? an aluminium square ? was hooked up by a wire to a CD player. Norris switched on the CD player.

Elwood ‘Woody’ Norris pointed a metal frequency emitter at one of perhaps 30 people who had come to see his invention. The emitter — an aluminium square — was hooked up by a wire to a CD player. Norris switched on the CD player.

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“There’s no speaker, but when I point this pad at you, you will hear the waterfall,” said the 63-year-old Californian. And one by one, each person in the audience did, and smiled widely.

Norris’ HyperSonic Sound system has won him an award coveted by inventors — the $500,000 annual Lemelson-MIT Prize. It works by sending a focused beam of sound above the range of human hearing. When it lands on you, it seems like sound is coming from inside your head. Norris said the uses for the technology could come in handy — in cars, in the airport or at home.

“Imagine your wife wants to watch television and you want to read a book, like the intellectual you are,” he said to the crowd. “Imagine you are a lifeguard or a coach and you want to yell at someone, he’ll be the only one to hear you.”