When played concurrently, sounds — like those from musical instruments — combine together to produce a new noise, but researchers at Carnegie Mellon University say that they have developed a system that's capable of reproducing sounds in isolation of each other, even when those sounds are played in unison.
Mark Sheinin and Dorian Chan, researchers at CMU's Robotics Institute, say that they have developed a new way to see the sound vibrations emitted from an object using a system comprised of ordinary cameras and a laser. According to the researchers, the precision and detail captured by this technology allows for the original sounds of a given object to be reconstructed and then played without any interference of nearby noises.
It's a feat that even the highest-powered microphones can't accomplish, although directional microphones come close in practice. In fact, the system doesn't use any microphones at all to capture the sound waves, relying solely on the visual capture from the cameras and laser, sights that the human eye can't even see.
Sheinin and Chan have since been able to successfully demonstrate the technology's ability to capture the individual sounds of two guitars playing next to one another. The system has also been able to identify and isolate two streams of music coming from two nearby and respective speakers, among other feats.
"Our method can sense multiple points simultaneously and can also support object motions such as the natural motions of a guitar player," Sheinin said in a video explaining the technology.
The 10-page research paper about the technology titled "Dual-Shutter Optical Vibration Sensing" can be found here.
