Engineers have developed an optical microphone that sees sounds

The system was created at the Robotics Institute of the College of Computer Science and its uses Two cameras and a laser to detect rapid, low-amplitude vibrations. Vibration can be used to reconstruct sound and capture isolated sound without distortion.

So far, the research team has made several successful demonstrations of the effectiveness of their system. They captured the isolated sound of guitars Simultaneously plays music sounds from individual speakers playing different songs at the same time. The scientists did this, among others, tuning the vibration of the fork and analyzing the vibration from… a bundle of chips.

The dual camera system is able to capture vibrations from moving objects, such as the movement of a guitar, while simultaneously “sensing” individual sounds from many other points.

The system works on the basis of exercise Analyze differences in dot pattern On photos taken with the universal shutter and rolling shutter.

rolling shutter It is a method of taking a picture where the shot clears the scene data taken not all at once, but in parts, vertically, horizontally, or rotated.

A special algorithm calculates the difference in point patterns from two scores and Converts these differences into vibrationsto rebuild the sound.

The pattern of dots indicates the way light behaves in space under reflection from a rough surface. Engineers create these patterns through targeting laser On the surface of the object that vibrates, such as the body of a guitar or a case of chips. The pattern of the dots changes with the vibration of the surface.

A rotating shutter quickly captures the image as it is being scanned, creating an image by stacking one row of pixels on top of another. on the other side global shot Captures a picture in one picture.

One use of the optical microphone is Create computer visionsthat will be used in space, especially in self-driving vehicles. The new system is to help identify and track objects in space.

The new system will allow better visibility of imperceptible high-frequency vibrations.

In addition, an optical microphone can be very useful in creating music or in music Monitoring the vibrations of individual machines in the production hallTo detect early signs of the need for repair.

“If your car starts making strange noises, you know it’s time to watch it. Now imagine a hall full of machines. Our system allows you to monitor the status of each by detecting their vibrations from a single stationary camera.” Shainen said.

Scientists at MIT developed the first optical microphones in 2014.

We’ve been hearing that for many years We can be heard on our phonesOr tablets or computers. Currently, there are at least a few spyware programs that can remotely activate the microphone on a specific device and directly record sounds from the surrounding environment.

earlier Edward Snowden He revealed that the CIA was using systems to spy on smartphones using mobile game apps.

The new system has the ability to give spies an almost unlimited number new possibilities in their work.