Active noise reduction?

[PaveLow]

I remember reading about a device that could drastically reduce the amount of noise in an area. It would take in the noise around it and use a speaker to output the exact inverse of the sound waves, neutralizing most of the sound. Wouldn't that be neat to put in your computer case? It might be weird if it reduced sound outside of the case, but hey -- silence is rather nice.

 

[dave127]

hmmmm...sounds interesting...where did you hear about that??? its probably expensive though

 

[Viper GTS]

They make headphones that use this technology, I don't think it could be easily applied to a PC case. Quieter components/passive cooling/sound deadening materials are simple & easy to implement. Active noise cancellation requires a great amount of precision, otherwise you'll end up worsening the situation. The two sound waves must reach the ear at exactly the same point in time, for instance. Example, if you were sitting between the device & a person talking, or a speaker playing music, etc. you would hear the devices attempts to cancel the noise a fraction of a second after you heard the noise itself.

Headphones work because they act as a doorkeeper, all sound going to your ear must pass through them (for all practical purposes, anyway).

Viper GTS

 

[TunaBoo]

Its been discussed, and unless you go with headphones, the active dampening will not work.

 

[Dunbar]

Plus, it's only effective for lower frequencies so those screaming fans wouldn't benefit from it. The good news is high frequencies are much easier to attenuate passively.