Japanese scientists have created a flexible speaker and microphone

Materials scientists from Japan managed to create a flexible and expandable device that works both as a speaker and as a microphone. The spiral shape, held by an elastic silicone substrate, allows the device to work after repeated stretching and compression.

The device uses an alloy of gallium, indium and tin, known under the brand name Galinstan (owned by the German company Geratherm Medical AG). In Russian, it is also known as ingas (alloy formula - InGaSn). This alloy has a melting point of -19 degrees, and therefore it remains liquid at room temperature.
')
Scientists, having made a silicone mold with a spiral inside, placed the alloy inside, and supplied the device with a magnet. The resulting speaker can reproduce sounds in the whole range perceived by the human ear - from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. Judging by the video demonstration, stretching the working speaker slightly distorts the sound, but it does not stop working.



The Japanese believe that such devices can be used in wearable electronics, which can be embedded in clothing, and for the manufacture of implants (for example, for people with hearing impairments). Working in the microphone mode, it can be a sensor that tracks various biological sounds and noises.

Scientists have been trying for some time to create flexible speakers that could be embedded in clothes or used as implants, and of course, create flexible gadgets with them. Experimental flexible batteries , screens and other components have already been created for the latter.



As for the speakers, we have already seen those based on graphene , thermoacoustics , or on the basis of a transparent conductive gel . But all these attempts did not lead to the creation of devices that are so resistant to deformation, like the Galician dynamics. It is not damaged even after 2000 deformations, and sprains at 50% of its initial size.



The next step in the development is to try to make a speaker using a non-neodymium magnet, but another material, which is also capable of easily deforming without consequences.