Disney's New 3D Printing Technology Turns Any Object Into A Speaker

3D printing has reached a point where people are looking to do more than just print things in plastic, so we now have food printers, doctors are printing out bones, and most recently a technology developed by Disney Research interaction designer Ivan Poupyrev that turns any object into a speaker. Here’s how it works:

Technically, this means that any object around us would be able to “talk”
To apply this technology, we have to thread a wire that carries an “electrical impulse of sound” through the object, before covering it with electrodes in order to charge “its skin with the potential to create sound”.

Ivan’s advancement could lead to some incredibly immersive experiences, like the ability to cover entire surfaces of walls and objects with speakers, or turning fashion accessories into mini speakers so you can share your favorite tunes with the world.

-Via DesignTAXI

Unfortunately 3D printers still have a ways to go as some of the steps creating the mentioned objects involved spray painting or filling molds by hand, as they reached the limit of the printer they had at the time. The important thing here is recognizing that a sacrifice in sound quality allows for a lot more creativity, as their methods can work on things made ways other than 3D printer, and even stuff you make at home by hand. Electrostatic speakers are straightforward to make, even for a kid's science fair project, unless you want really good sound quality where it can get difficult as with any kind of speaker design. Someone just had to notice that isn't the only direction for speakers to go.

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