NXT, a company that holds several patents for flat panel speakers, has helped NEC design a computer monitor for desktop PCs that acts as a loudspeaker.

Read more on the NXT web site.

VXI Technology, Irvine CA, will acquire Agilent’s mechanical data acquisition products. Agilent will sell its assets, products, technology and employees associated with its VXI-based mechanical data acquisition products includes measurement and analysis products for use in shock, vibration and acoustical analysis applications.

Read more on the Agilent web site.

Owens Corning Automotive, Novi Michigan USA, has developed a composite speaker panel that uses Distributed Mode Loudspeakers. The technology has been available from NXT since the 90’s, and produce both mid- and high frequency sound and that is non-directional.

Read more on the Owens Corning Composites web site, under the Automotive section.

Quiet Steel(TM) is a patented product from MSC Laminates that is a sandwhich of sheet steel with damping material between the sheets. This product can provide reductions in sound and vibration inside a vehicle.

Read more on the MSC Laminates web site.

The National Endowment for Science, Technology & the Arts, NESTA, in the UK has awarded an engineer, Giovanni Bisutti, £75,000 to develop a system for pneumatic tools, such as jack hammers, to reduce the effects of vibration on the operators. ‘White finger’ is caused by excessively vibrating tools that cause damage to the hands of the tool operators. The new system uses a water jacket shrouded around the tool that is used to increase the mass of the tool by 15kg. Water is transfered into the tool when in operation and is removed within 3 seconds when the tool is to be moved.

Read the article on the NESTA web site.

Bently Nevada, a company specializing in condition monitoring systems and equipment, have released a new system call the TrendMaster Pro, which is capable of collecting data from thousands of sensors from wired and wireless sensor networks.

Read more on the Bently Nevada web site.

Next week, February 16-23 2003 is National Engineers week (in the US).

Read more on the National Engineers week web site.

At the International Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week, Dolby displayed their new headphones for use with their 5.1 surround sound technology. The headphones almost eliminate the “listener-fatigue” problem, where the listener perceives sound coming from inside their head.

Read the press release on the Dolby web site.

ESCO Technologies has bought Austin Acoustics Systems for $4 million. Austin Acoustics make acoustic enclosures for audiometric testing and the recording industry.

JMC Products has developed a DC motor for fans that is significantly quieter than conventional motors. In a conventional fan motor a square wave switching voltage is applied to the stator that generates torque ripples and vibrates the entire structure which makes a ticking noise. JMC have reduced this noise by changing the switching frequency to 25kHz, above the range of human hearing.

Read the JMC media release here.