The technique of containnt also enables an instrument panel to make speakers.
In-car audio people are as much about relaying information as it is about listening to music. Keeping this in mind, one of the latest ideas to emerge from the containntal is a tool display that is doubled as a sound chamber to transmit the sound without the need of different speakers.
The performance is based on the company’s ac2ted sound technology, which it began to develop with audio expert Sennheiser many years ago. An exercise in system integration, the performance removes with the requirement of different speakers, saves cost, weight and location.
The sound is generated by actuators, which effectively converts the entire display surface into a speaker, thanking for the audio vibration induced in the glass. It can transmit all types of sounds including speech in “extraordinary quality”.
According to Continental, another benefit is “acoustic localization”. As humans, we can tell where a sound is coming from and there is a tendency to bend our head in that direction. Therefore, when a spoken message or alert sound is manufactured by a display, the driver’s gaze is related to the device that it belongs to, where it requires, pay attention.
The idea behind the joint audio and display technology comes from the part of the team specialized in vehicle sounds and is also psychoanalysis, which man experiences sound.
Although the main use of the display may be to relay information and link scenes and sound more closely, Continental says that actuater technology can be integrated into almost any existing flat component in the interior of the car. Door trims, headrests, A-Pillars, roof lining, and so are the ability to get rid of all traditional speakers, by installing actuators.
This can provide aesthetic advantage (no need for speaker grills) a significant savings of approximately 40 kg (about the weight of many speakers and fittings in a high-end audio system) and a 90 percent decrease in the required space, which is estimated at 30–40 liters, depends on the number of speakers used. Some premium audio systems include more than 30 speakers, so packaging benefits may also be sufficient, assuming that active surface technology can match them for audio quality.
When the original AC2ated system was shown by Continental in CES in 2020, it was an audio system-centered instead of performance-centric and was called speakerless immersive sound system. Then, it was integrated with the Arbeo 3D audio technology of the Center. As the Continental said at that time, the concept is similar to the wooden body of a string instrument, such as violin, acts as a resonance chamber, and vibrations to project the surface sound. A-pillars, compared to different sizes of surfaces, such as compared to a door panel, handle the different frequency range in the same way as specific types and sizes of speakers.
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