Installing a decent sound system in a car can take up considerable space, particularly for multi-speaker setups like the one in the upcoming Volvo EX90 electric SUV. LG Display has developed a slim and light alternative that promises immersive listening from small vibrating flat panels.
"We have transformed the conventionally heavy and bulky speaker into a high-quality ‘invisible’ sound solution by using our cutting-edge technology to elevate space, design, and eco-friendly factors and provide a next-level sound experience like none before," said the LG Display's Yeo Chun-ho.
The 150 x 90-mm (5.9 x 3.5-in) panel has been developed in collaboration with an unnamed global audio company, and measures just 2.5 mm thick (0.098 in) while tipping the scales at a featherweight 40 g (1.4 oz) – making it some 90% thinner and 70% lighter than the kind of the kind of traditional speaker currently throwing out audio from car infotainment systems, according to the company.
Naturally, given those dimensions, you won't find components like voice coils, cones and magnets bulking out the Thin Actuator Sound Solution. Instead, film-type exciter technology produces "rich, 3D immersive sound experience" by vibrating off display panels and materials inside the vehicle in similar way to big-screen televisions that turn the display into a flat-panel speaker system.
It's suggested that the solution could be built into a car's dashboard, headliner, pillar and headrests to deliver quality audio throughout the interior, while negating the use of rare-earth elements like neodymium, freeing up space inside for auto makers to utilize in other ways and making for a cleaner aesthetic thanks to the lack of speaker grilles.
LG Display plans to commercialize the technology in the first half of 2023, and will have demos running at CES 2023 in January as a taste of what's to come.
Source: LG Display
