Digital sound reconstruction using arrays of CMOS-MEMS microspeakers

We report on the generation of sound by the superposition of discrete sound pulses from arrays of micromachined membrane microspeakers or speaklets. Digital sound reconstruction (DSR) is unlike any other reconstruction approach in use, offering true, direct digital reconstruction of sound. CMOS-MEMS micromachining techniques allow the integration of hundreds to thousands of microspeakers as as well as sound optimization electronics on a single chip. Nonlinearities typically problematic for analog speakers can be controlled through membrane geometries and material properties to produce acoustic responses useful for DSR.