Development of independent sound zones control system in a car

Abstract

Recently, growth of portable electronics and in-vehicle technologies like navigation, hands free calling and Bluetooth have dramatically changed driving condition. Navigation information and phone calls are important for drivers, but interrupt the music for passengers. Games, digital videos for one passenger result in a cabin filled with noise for all. Because sound focusing technique is able to make independent and different sound fields in same time and space, if we apply this technique to vehicle cabin, we suppose that each passenger can listen different audio content without interrupt and the problem about Bluetooth phone call privacy etc. may be solved. In this study, we introduce the sound focusing technique and show the result that this technique is applied to vehicle cabin.