A loudspeaker system composed of a flexible panel with an affixed array of force actuators, a signal processing system, and interface electronic circuits is described. The system described is capable of creating a pattern of standing bending waves at any location on the panel and the instantaneous amplitude, velocity, or acceleration of the standing waves can be controlled by an audio signal to create localized acoustic sources at the selected locations in the plane of the panel.

A micromechanical sound transducer according to a first aspect includes a first bending transducer with a free end and a second bending transducer with a free end, the two bending transducers being arranged in a mutual plane, wherein the free end of the first bending transducer is separated from the free end of the second bending transducer via a slit. The second bending transducer is excited in-phase with the vertical vibration of the first bending transducer. A micromechanical sound transducer according to a second aspect includes a first bending transducer that is excited to vibrate vertically and a diaphragm element extending vertically to the first bending transducer, the diaphragm element being separated from a free end of the first bending transducer via a slit.

A refrigerator with a sound reproducing capability is provided. The refrigerator may include a cabinet forming an exterior of the refrigerator and having an upper surface portion, a lower surface portion, a side surface portion, and a rear surface portion, a door coupled to the cabinet, a vibration module attached to an inner surface of at least one among the door, the upper surface portion, the side surface portion, the rear surface portion, and the lower surface portion, and a controller configured to control vibration of the vibration module. The vibration strength of the vibration module and power supplied to the vibration module may be determined by a trained model trained through machine learning, an area of artificial intelligence (AI). In addition, the refrigerator may include a communicator, and may operate in conjunction with an external device via 5G communication.

A display apparatus includes a display unit including a display panel configured to display an image, a curvature variation unit disposed on a rear surface of the display unit and varying a curvature of the display unit, and a vibration unit disposed on the rear surface of the display unit configured to vibrate the display panel.

The invention relates to an electromagnetic actuator, which is designed to be connected to a backside of a plate like structure and which comprises an annular coil arrangement and a magnet system being designed to generate a magnetic field transverse to the annular coil arrangement. The annular coil arrangement and the magnet system are connected to each other by a plurality of springs, which are arranged inside of the annular coil arrangement. Furthermore, the invention relates to an output device, comprising a plate like structure and an electromagnetic actuator of the above kind connected to a backside of the plate like structure.

A display apparatus may include a rear cover at a rear surface of a display module and a vibration generating module at a rear region of the rear cover. The vibration generating module may be configured to output sound in a forward direction and a lateral direction of the display module.

Disclosed herein are speaker assemblies and acoustic devices comprising a panel having a long side and a short side, at least one transducer configured to excite the panel at a plurality of excitation locations on the panel to generate a wave having a wave front substantially perpendicular to the long side and propagating toward the short side of the panel and, optionally, at least one attenuating component mounted to the panel. Methods for generating an acoustic sound are also disclosed herein.

A panel loudspeaker controller for controlling a panel loudspeaker including a plurality of actuators, the panel loudspeaker controller including a plurality of electrical signal inputs, each input being associated with each actuator of the panel loudspeaker to be controlled; a plurality of signal processors, each signal processor being associated with each input and having an output for an electrical signal to control an actuator of the panel loudspeaker, and each signal processor implementing a transfer function from its input to its output based on each actuator of the panel loudspeaker to a desired acoustic receiver; and a signal processor controller associated with all of the plurality of signal processors, wherein the signal processor controller is preconfigured to improve phase alignment between the signals as an ensemble output at the outputs of the signal processors.

A speaker device according to an embodiment includes a vibration element, a driving unit, and a panel. The driving unit applies, to the vibration element, a driving signal where a carrier wave in an ultrasonic wave band is modulated by a sound signal in an audible wave band. The panel is provided with the vibration element and arranged in such a manner that a driving signal is applied to such a vibration element by the driving unit to form a vibration region and first and second ultrasonic waves that are generated from such a vibration region and travel in mutually different directions travel toward respectively different users.

A flat panel loudspeaker configured for mounting in an opening in a mounting surface includes a planar resonant panel configured to be inserted into an opening in the mounting surface and having a front surface and a rear surface. The flat panel loudspeaker also includes an exciter coupled to the rear surface and configured to cause an active portion of the planar resonant panel to vibrate and generate sound. An outer boundary of the active portion of the planar resonant panel is fixed relative to the mounting surface, the outer boundary defining the active portion as an area of the planar resonant panel. The planar resonant panel comprises an edge portion extending beyond the outer boundary of the active portion in at least one direction. The edge portion is configured to overlap the mounting surface.