Panasonic Putting Big Booms in Small Places

Panasonic says its Nano Bass Exciter technology will wring high-fidelity low-end response from compact speakers - even those found in portable devices and mobile phones.

Panasonic—the consumer brand of electronics and manufacturing giant Matsushita—has announced it has developed a technology which will improve low-end frequency response in compact speakers—or, in more general terms, put subwoofers into cell phones.

Panasonic says the patent-pending Nano Bass Exciter technology uses a nanometer-scale porous carbon material inside the small and/or thin speaker enclosures; when low-end sounds come long, the carbon material briefly absorbs the increased air pressure produced by the speaker diaphragm, enabling the speaker to move in a way analogous to a large-diameter loudspeaker, permitting it to produce more-accurate low-end frequencies. Panasonic says the Nano Bass Exciter lets low-end frequencies be twice as loud as low-range sounds produced by conventional Panasonic speakers.

In additional to the proprietary carbon material, Panasonic has been developing speaker designs which fully utilize the Nano Bass Exciter effect; it believes the technology will enable compact speakers users in things like portable media players and telephones to produce sound more like home AV systems—perhaps not as loud, but with a better overall low-end frequency response, so audio played over them doesn’t sound “tinny.” Panasonic also says it’s considering applying the technology to home AV gear—and just in case other companies are thinking about jumping on the bandwagon, Panasonic wants everyone to know it has 14 patents pending in Japan on the technology, and 10 in other countries.