Ignacy Giżyński
For years, television manufacturers have been circling around the same theme: more LED threads, better brightness, perfect black, higher resolution, smaller pixels and even better colour reproduction. And now? A team of Koreans decided to take a completely different path. And one that could turn the entire audio-visual industry upside down.
Instead of improving the image, the team from Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) decided to do something unconventional – turn every pixel into... a speaker. Seriously.
Pixel-Based Local Sound OLED – a revolution that sounds
The new technology is called Pixel-Based Local Sound OLED and at first glance, it looks like science fiction. But no – it’s not some concept from CES, it's a working prototype of a 13-inch OLED panel. Instead of traditional membranes and transducers, scientists have used piezoelectric actuators embedded directly into the pixel structure.
In practice, it works like this: each pixel converts an electrical signal into micro-vibrations that generate sound. Directly from the screen. We don’t need any soundbars, there are no holes in the casing, and there’s no need to fiddle with directional audio. Sounds? It does – and locally, precisely, and point-wise. No bleed-through, no interference, with the ability to assign a specific sound to a specific location on the screen.
No compromises: image and sound in one
Importantly, the entire technology does not negatively impact the thickness of the display. The piezoelectric exciters are small enough to fit even in the thinnest OLED screens – so there's no need to compromise on a "paper-thin" design. Moreover, the phenomenon of "crosstalk," or interference between sound sources, has been completely eliminated, which was the biggest challenge in previous attempts at similar solutions.
Not just for televisions. Cars, smartphones, tablets…
Although OLED with sound straight from the pixels is begging to be used in televisions, scientists are aiming much further. Cars – that's the first direction. Imagine a system where the driver only hears navigation commands, while the passenger next to them relaxes to music. Without headphones. Without sound barriers. What's next? Monitors that play sound themselves. Tablets without speakers. Smartphones where the entire surface of the screen is an audio source.
As Professor Su Seok Choi, who led the project, says – this is a solution that could become the new standard in lightweight, mobile, and ultra-slim consumer devices.
And if you’re thinking about buying a new television – now is a great time. Amazing prices on OLED televisions! Check out the best models from the sale!
Sounds like a revolution? Yes, but for now, take it easy
However, we need to cool down the emotions – the technology is currently in the prototype stage. It works on a 13-inch screen and looks impressive, but the road to mass production is still long. Challenges? First and foremost, scalability – it’s uncertain whether the system will work equally effectively on 55-inch or 77-inch televisions. On top of that, there’s the issue of production costs and potential reliability with such a complicated pixel structure.
But if all this can be refined – we could witness one of the most exciting breakthroughs in home entertainment since surround sound.
