Super-Microphone Picks Out Single Voice in a Crowded Stadium

[Ellipse]

The Audioscope is the invention of two Norwegian physicists Morgan Kjølerbakken and Vibeke Jahr. Speaking to New Scientist, Kjølerbakken says that “If we correct the audio arriving at three microphones then we have a signal that is three times as strong. Doing the same thing with 300 microphones can make a single conversation audible even in a stadium full of sports fan.”

Audio from all microphones is stored in separate channels, so you can even go back and listen in on any sounds later. Want to hear the whispered insult that caused one player to lose it and attack the other? You got it.

Catching taunts from foul-mouthed players is one application, but Audioscope could be used for more sinister purposes, too. Deployed at public gatherings, the super-mics could be zoomed in to eavesdrop on conversations between suspicious persons, or pretty much anyone the cops want to listen in on. Are you scared yet?

source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/10/super-microphone-picks-out-single-voice-in-a-crowded-stadium/

 

[Nook]

Holy..cow. And as the quote said, it's only the beginning.

Soon, we won't be able to get on the train, go into a public building,
go into a coffee shop or just walk on the streets without being overheard by these things.
I wouldn't be surprised if the new apartment building are going to have these built-in....
Yes, I'm scared already.

Even that bubble gum pop was loud and clear...

 

[Jacques]

Holy..cow. And as the quote said, it's only the beginning.

Soon, we won't be able to get on the train, go into a public building,
go into a coffee shop or just walk on the streets without being overheard by these things.
I wouldn't be surprised if the new apartment building are going to have these built-in....
Yes, I'm scared already.

Even that bubble gum pop was loud and clear...

I would say that if they talk about that now, it means that it is not new and it is an old technology.

 

[The rabbit]

A lot of HD video cameras are very good at picking out voices these days just by zooming in.

 

[Ellipse]

I would say that if they talk about that now, it means that it is not new and it is an old technology.

Yes but the difference is certainly the availability of the technology, going from military to the shop next your door soon.

 

[dant]

Out of everyone in the stadium, what if one silently
whispers: "bomb"? With triangulation - a quick trip
to paddy wagon?

 

[Third_Density_Resident]

A lot of HD video cameras are very good at picking out voices these days just by zooming in.

No consumer video camera is good at picking out voices by "zooming in". It has nothing to do with the zooming or the HD anyway; it's the nature of the microphone that's being used. Good shotgun microphones can pick out voices to an extent, but the "zooming in" aspect is just a consumer gimmick which is achieved by increasing the gain of the microphone.

 

[Ellipse]

We can link this information with this one:
COUNCILS USE BUGS IN LAMPPOSTS TO EAVESDROP ON YOU: http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=18614.0