With a thickness of only 17 mm, the new plasma loudspeaker can reduce noise in rooms, aircraft and other environments

CTOnews.com Active Noise Reduction (ANC) is a mature technology in the field of headphones, but there are still huge challenges in applying it to rooms, airplanes and other environments. Scientists have developed plasma-based noise reduction technology that is expected to help solve the problem of room noise reduction.

If you don't want to hear the square-dancing downstairs and the noise next door, an alternative to noise-canceling foam and sound-absorbing walls is to fill the walls with large speakers that release in reverse to cancel out the waves and keep out the noise.

EPFL researchers brought a lightweight approach, developing ultra-thin plasma speakers to solve the noise problem.

These speakers are lightweight, simple and even inexpensive to manufacture. They work similarly to ion propulsion systems, which use electric fields to ionize ambient air through plasma.

The speaker generates positively and negatively charged particles, which are then accelerated and pushed into ambient air, creating pressure waves. In addition, you can change the voltage applied to these ion speakers, thereby instantly changing the amount of air passing through.

Whereas noise-reducing foam or sound-absorbing walls typically require a thickness of 4 meters (13 feet) when set up, the new speakers need only 17 millimeters (0.6 inches) to cancel out lower frequency wavelengths and can be easily used to create noise-reducing environments in rooms, airplanes and cars.

CTOnews.com attaches the address of the paper here for interested users to read in depth.