Piezo Transducer Tech Turns a Screen into a Speaker

May 30, 2023
The Synaptics Resonate amplifier drives a piezo transducer element attached to the back of a display and vibrate the display to produce audio.

Check out our embedded world 2023 coverage.

Synaptics highlighted its Synaptics Resonate audio solution that uses a display’s surface as a sound and haptics transducer. Its intended to provide a more immersive audio and user experience while reducing space, cost, and power consumption for IoT devices. The technology enables slim, bezel-less, and inherently dust-proof and waterproof designs in industrial, automotive, and consumer electronics applications.

Synaptics Resonate replaces the dynamic speakers and linear resonant actuators typically used, with piezoelectric transducers placed on the rear of the display glass.

Driven by a proprietary amplifier and algorithms, the transducers cause the audio to emanate directly from the surface of the glass. Avoiding the compromises of side- or down-firing speakers, the transducers can also produce haptic feedback as well as detect pressure for a third axis of control for touch interfaces. 

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About the Author

Alix Paultre | Editor-at-Large, Electronic Design

An Army veteran, Alix Paultre was a signals intelligence soldier on the East/West German border in the early ‘80s, and eventually wound up helping launch and run a publication on consumer electronics for the US military stationed in Europe. Alix first began in this industry in 1998 at Electronic Products magazine, and since then has worked for a variety of publications in the embedded electronic engineering space. Alix currently lives in Wiesbaden, Germany.

Also check out his YouTube watch-collecting channel, Talking Timepieces

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