GOOD VIBES FOR TOUCH SCREENS
A touch-screen sensor that works like a flat-panel loudspeaker in reverse has been developed by British audio company NXT and US-based 3M.
Today’s touch-sensitive screens on PCs or PDAs work by sensing changes in an electric field caused by the pressure of the stylus or finger. But the NXT/3M panel “listens” for the vibrations caused by touch – using much simpler and potentially cheaper technology.
NXT’s flat-panel speakers use peizoelectric transducers at the sides of a flat panel to flex it, creating sound waves that radiate into the air. The touch panel reverses this principle, using transducers at each corner to convert…
