Multidimensional stereophonic sound reproduction system

Abstract

A system which provides a means for reproducing stereophonic prerecorded sound which greatly improves the quality of the reproduced sound which the listener hears is disclosed. The sounds reproduced through the system of the present invention closely emulate the sounds as originally generated by the sound source, particularly with regard to the locations of the sound sources relative to one another. Through the method and apparatus of the present invention, the sounds emanating from the sound transducers, which comprise sound waves travelling through air, are transformed on a sound-receiving surface of a sympathetically vibratable material or "sound screen" into surface forced bending waves within the material which travel along the surface towards one another. These waves combine and interfere with one another thereby producing an acoustic-to-acoustic transducer which has the form of an acoustic grating pattern formed from standing waves on the material, where each acoustic grating pattern on the sound screen corresponds to and represents a given sound source. The grating pattern, like the diaphragm of a speaker cone, produces sounds which emulate the individual sound sources.