Acoustic Location and Sound Mirrors (2004) | Hacker News Reader

Acoustic Location and Sound Mirrors (2004)

douglas-self.com

31 pointstomcam10 comments

Interesting history!

And while we are in the subject of sound localizing may I take the liberty of introducing my new raspberry pi sound localizing audio recorder.

https://github.com/hcfman/sbts-aru

It installs with one command on all Raspberry Pi versions and synchronizes the system time to less than 1 microsecond of error with a cheap GPS.

With three of these I’ve been able to sound localize the explosions from illegal fireworks to a specific car park from more than 3km away with lots of houses in between.

When I got to the car park I could smell the sulphur from the fireworks.

This will even run on a Raspberry Pi zero running of a battery with a 6 euro neo 7m gps and a 6 euro usb mic.

Such an effective trick when you experience it in person.

I remember visiting Goonhilly Earth Station as a boy (a collection of huge satellite dishes at the very tip of Cornwall, UK) and they had two small (~2 or 3m diameter) dishes facing each other on either side of the visitor centre. Completely blew my mind to hear someone whispering from all the way across the room!

Any building with a domed ceiling is ripe for interesting reflections as well. There's a story of US congress/senator during a negotiation offering to step to the other side of the room to allow his "colleagues" to confer in private knowingly as he could hear their conversations due to the reflections off the dome.

Instant 70s-style album cover

Sure. If you take the tour, a guide demonstrates it. Or at least did in the 80s.

The static dishes mentioned at the end of the article can still be visited if you're ever in Kent, UK.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Sound+Mirrors/@50.956379...

https://www.andrewgrantham.co.uk/soundmirrors/locations/deng... is quite a good article and set of photographs about the Denge sound mirrors.

There are also some more accessible, but smaller, ones along the cost at https://beyondthepoint.co.uk/sound-mirrors/

Note "The only way of seeing the Denge sound mirrors close up is during one of the public open days run by the RSPB. There is no public access to the Dungeness mirrors, which are in the middle of a disused gravel pit. Contact the RSPB for the dates of future open days."

I was recently watching "Back to life" which featured a sound mirror as a story focal point. Though the series was set in Hythe (which has a sound mirror), they suggested the mirror featured was in/near Hythe when it was in fact the Abbott's Cliff one (featured as the header image on the beyondthepoint link)

White letters on light background there.

I wouldnt know, bitdefender wont let me look at the page.

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