Hydrogel Speakers

A project completed by Harvard University Researchers has produced an exciting “prototype speaker” that is able to “stretch across screens to play music”. The “transparent” electronic is created from a “hydrogel”, a mixture of “salt water and polymers” which are connected to “electrodes”.

Two layers of the hydrogel “sandwich a rubber sheet”. The “electrodes feed current to ions” through the gel that “vibrates the rubber”, making “sound waves”. This process is inspired and similar to the way that the “human body transmits electric signals that tell the heart to beat”.

Problems have arisen with keeping the gel material “hydrated” as if left; it soon begins to “evaporate”. Developments with this are being made.

The transparency of the material allows it to be suggested for a number of different applications. The speaker could “sit in front of a screen”, a “window” or be applied as a “coating”. This identifies a link between our project, space saving electronics. The gel presents a flexible glass, which therefore creates an illusion of not capacitating much space. This idea of transparency is inspiring yet does not agree with our chosen material, paper. It provides potential ideas however of cut out areas. Yet the project simply suggests the current developments around sound and speakers, identifying the gap in the market for our research.

Daileda, C. (2013). Mashable. Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2013/09/17/gel-speakers-cancel-sound/.