In solid localization of finger impacts using acoustic time-reversal process

Time reversal in acoustics is a very efficient solution to focus sound back to its source in a wide range of materials including reverberating media. It expresses the following properties: A wave still has the memory of its source location. The concept presented in this letter first consists in detecting the acoustic waves in solid objects generated by a slight finger knock. In a second step, the information related to the source location is extracted from a simulated time reversal experiment in the computer. Then, an action (turn on the light or a compact disk player, for example) is associated with each location. Thus, the whole system transforms solid objects into interactive interfaces. Compared to the existing acoustic techniques, it presents the great advantage of being simple and easily applicable to inhomogeneous objects whatever their shapes. The number of possible touch locations at the surface of objects is shown to be directly related to the mean wavelength of the detected acoustic wave. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.