Synaptics just did an official announcement to say that samples are ready to ship for its very cool Synaptics Resonate. This is a technology that uses a display’s surface as a sound and haptics transducer leading to reductions in space, cost, and power consumption for Internet of things (IoT) devices, as the company likes to put it. It’s actually a unique piece of tech that drives audio directly from the point that you are watching a display, and is inherently dust-proof, waterproof, and can be used in industrial design, mobile, automotive, and a whole host of other situations, as well as monitors and laptops.
Synaptics Resonate replaces the traditional dynamic speakers and linear resonant actuators (LRAs) used for audio and haptic feedback, respectively. LRAs are devices that provide haptic feedback by vibrating at a specific frequency. These devices typically consist of a coil of wire and a magnet. When an electric current is applied to the coil, it creates a magnetic field that interacts with the magnet, causing it to move back and forth rapidly. This motion produces the vibration that is felt as haptic feedback.
In traditional LRA designs, the vibration is transmitted through a small mass, such as a weight or a plate, to produce the haptic effect. However, this design can result in limited frequency response and inconsistent haptic feedback, particularly at lower frequencies.
Synaptics is using piezoelectric transducers that are positioned on the rear of the display glass. The transducers are driven by a proprietary amplifier and algorithms, allowing the audio to be emitted directly from the surface of the glass, resulting in an immersive viewing experience.
The advantage of using piezoelectric transducers in audio and haptic feedback is that they have a wider frequency response and are more efficient than traditional LRAs. Additionally, because the transducers are placed on the rear of the display glass, they eliminate the need for a separate haptic motor, reducing the overall size and complexity of the device. As a matter of fact, piezoelectric transducers can pretty much turn almost any surface into a speaker—tiles, windows, tables. Synaptics has managed to take the existing tech and push it into a new area where it kind of has some advantages if it works as suggested. After all, who hasn’t quite figured out how to hold a smartphone to hear the sound clearly.
