Back to 2007 list"Real Time Sound Camera" Developed
- Visualizes sound in real time -
March 15, 2007
Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc.
Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc. (President & CEO: Toshio Mita; head office: 1, Higashishin-cho, Higashi-ku, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture), Kumagai Gumi Co.,Ltd. (President: Hiroshi Ota; head office: 2-1, Tsukudo-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo) and Professor Yasuhiro Yamashita, Faculty of Engineering at Shinshu University (President: Atsushi Komiyama; location: 3-1-1, Asahi, Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture) have successfully developed a real time "sound camera," which identifies sound sources and visually displays them on a screen.
1. Equipment overview
The recently developed equipment creates a visual image of sound in real time. Thus, when an object shown on the monitor emits a sound, the sound data can be immediately displayed on top of it on the screen. This allows the user to check such data as the sound direction, volume and frequency while on location.
Earlier sound cameras required several seconds to several minutes to display sound data on a screen after taking measurements. Because of time restrictions, therefore, the common practice has been to take data and confirm the sound sources on site, then bring the equipment back to the office to analyze the sound patterns. This makes it difficult to take measurements while checking the sound patterns at the site.
2. Equipment characteristics
The equipment has the following characteristics.
- (1) Because the sound camera allows the user to check measurement results in real time, it is possible to confirm sudden noises on-site. In addition, the user can check the status of sounds that change over time.
- (2) Two versions are available to meet different measuring needs: a standard type, with full real time capabilities, and a simplified type, built light and compact for portability.
The equipment lets users easily and instantly check data on sound that occurs suddenly or changes over time, as at power stations and substations. Sound surveys become more efficient and reliable as a result. With the simplified type, users can move the device from point to point as they monitor sound patterns, making it more efficient to search for multiple sound sources. The devices are also suitable for permanent monitoring of sound from equipment.
The developers of the equipment will promote its wide scale use to help create better sound environments.
< Reference >
System appearance
Standard type
The standard type displays the images captured by a compact camera on a special monitor. When sound occurs, the sound data (direction, size and frequency) appears superimposed on the image of the area on the special monitor.
Photo 1: Standard type
(left: special monitor; center: operating monitor)
Simplified type
The simplified type is a smaller and lighter version of the standard type. Sound data is displayed in real time on a laptop computer screen, while direct images from the camera itself are displayed on a separate small screen.
Photo 2: Simplified type
(left: computer monitor for sound data; center: small monitor for camera images)
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