Speakers now come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, so it’s quite a feat when someone announces that they’ve developed a speaker that no one else has thought to make before (except maybe these guys). That’s the position Fujifilm currently finds themselves in with their Beat diaphragm speakers.
The Beat Diaphragm is a portable speaker technology made up of ultra-flexible materials. It’s so flexible, in fact, that you can curl and roll it up when you’re done using it. At Tokyo’s nano tech 2013 tradeshow, Fujifilm also showed off the speakers in a variety of form factors, including shiny flat panels, and even in a Japanese folding fan.
The speaker is constructed with a soft polymer on the surface, which makes the rolling-up action possible. However, when sounds from 20Hz to 20kHz are coursed through the speaker, the material hardens. Additionally, the sound is provided by piezoelectric ceramics.
The potential for this is huge, although the technology has yet to find its way into any actual products you can buy.
