Thread: Projecting sound?

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Is it possible to project sound from a distance, e.g. focus it so it will be heard in a specific spot for my yard haunt--without having a speaker at the place I want the sound to be heard? I think that could be a rather spooky effect, e.g. projecting whispers or voices.

I realize I could hide a wireless speaker behind a tombstone. But what if it's in an area where I have no other props? Or if it's out by the driveway / street?

High frequency waves are narrow and easier to focus hence why a subwoofer can be placed pretty much anywhere. So it should be possible to focus the sound at a distance, but you would need a hard surface for those sounds to bounce from to be heard.

Search for "hypersonic" or "holosonic" sound. They've developed a method of focusing a "beam" of sound. It's intended to be used for advertising, but could work well in a haunt. It's fairly new technology, so it's probably pretty pricey.

Here's one example of a commercially available product. No prices, though.

Very interesting subject Miike. I am workimg on the same thing for my thunder and lightning effect. I am going to put 4x100 watt speakers out with plexi-glass deflectors.. I am trying to avoid the sound coming from 4 spots vs a thunder sound comimg from a general area. Once the weather breaks here in Michigan I will start experimenting.

Nepboard,
I've been doing lightning and thunder for a few years now.
What i do is I put 2 of my larger entertainment center speakers behind the shrubs and run the wires back into the amp. I also use the subwoofer out on the porch. It sounds great, and you can't tell where the sound is coming from.

As for the thread topic I've seen a show on the Discovery Channel on this subject. The military is using this as a non lethal weapon.
It was really cool how directional the sound was. From the looks of what they had it was way-way out of a decorators budget

Years ago a man invented a fog horn for ship use that projected the sound outward so sleeping passengers on the ship itself would not hear it.
At that time he also invented a sound weapon that if beamed at someone could penetrate many feet of protective bunker wall.
It slowly killed by creating a resonace internally rubbing one's organs together until they bled to death internally.
Of course all this was supposed to be "true" but can you believe everything they print?
I'm still waiting to see the toilet someone in Japan invented 25 years ago that was supposed to flush using only 3 ounzes of water. (Paul Harvey said this one)

Thanks everyone.

Here's how it can be done (look up parabola and the "focus").

Directional Speakers, Sound Domes, Focused Sound: Brown Innovations, Inc.

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Directional Speakers, Sound Dome, Kiosk Speakers : Brown Innovations, Inc.

directional sound is easy to accomplish... but to make it spot-on is tough. the hypersonic methods are very pricey...

A speaker mounted in the ground and well hidden, might make it difficult for the person hearing it to make a mental connection to resolve precisely where the sound was coming from.

Another way to do it might be to use the two speaker stereo effect to create a third sound source. Sound coming from two speakers at the same volume and the same distance, tricks our brains into believing the sound is coming from the center.

Another way to perhaps accomplish this is with 5.1 sound. We experience this with Dolby movies. 4 of the speakers can create an ambient sound that is difficult to perceive as coming from any particular direction. If the sound in any one speaker is increased the sound seems to move in that direction. If you can control the path of people through the center this sound area, you can create a sense of movement or source of sound that tricks the ears into believing it is coming from a spot that has no speaker.

Phoenix_AU, our favorite insane genius, created a computer program that I've used to split voice tracks over 5 channels. It would be fairly easy to use it to create multiple tracks of sound where you can vary the volume of selected tracks to create that movement or source effect. You can play it back through any dolby sound system.