USA Today

Sound technology turns the way you hear on its ear


Rarely is an invention so unique, so visceral and so simple that in 15 seconds most people who experience it realize it could alter everyday life. But that's what happens to just about anyone who steps out to the back parking lot of American Technology Corp. (ATC) here for a demonstration of its invention called HyperSonic Sound (HSS). Essentially, HSS for the first time does for sound what the laser did for light � intensely focuses and channels it so it can travel great distances without dispersing. In the demo, a technician points a speaker the size of a cereal box at someone standing 100 yards away. Amid the din of the nearby freeway, the technician plays a recording of ice cubes clinking into a glass.