Apparently there’s work afoot to quiet down computers using active noise cancelling technology of the sort found in those expensive headphones at airports. Dr Scott D. Sommerfeldt has produced a system that works in exactly the same way to cancel out the noise of the fan. [Via Fred Langa’s rather excellent LangaList]
‘Dr. Sommerfeldt�s system has four miniature speakers and four even tinier microphones set in a ring around the computer fan. The microphones and other sensors detect the noise of the fan blades and, with the help of digital signal processing and algorithms, radiate opposing tones from the speakers. The whole system can be tucked into the same space that a conventional computer cooling fan would occupy.’
