Graphene may hold the key for a new type of speaker that doesn’t need a vibrating membrane at all, instead generating sound through thermoacoustics. Pretty much every speaker works with a membrane that physically vibrates, distorting the air in specific patterns to generate sound waves. But now, researchers at the University of Exeter have developed a speaker that doesn’t need to mechanically vibrate at all. The key to this potentially ground-breaking speaker is – what else? – graphene, which is heated and cooled with carefully controlled electric currents to create sound waves.MORE@NewAtlas
Graphene speaker creates sound through heat, not vibrations
By Michael Irving, New Atlas