Yes, it is possible to use lasers to measure speaker directivity / dispersion!

[Nyal Mellor]

It's been just over a year since the UK's National Physical Laboratory first released information on their innovative laser-based acoustical mapping technique.

Thanks to UK loudspeaker company PMC we now have a real life use case for this technology - using lasers to study the dispersion characteristics of loudspeakers.

Please read

Very very cool stuff!

 

[treitz3]

Hello, Nyal. That is very cool indeed. How far away from the speaker can the tools pick up on the bending of the light? I'm curious as to how low a frequency this technology will allow them to measure. Nice post, BTW.

Tom

 

[JackD201]

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[NorthStar]

-- Just added it to my Favorites Bar.

 

[Nyal Mellor]

Hello, Nyal. That is very cool indeed. How far away from the speaker can the tools pick up on the bending of the light? I'm curious as to how low a frequency this technology will allow them to measure. Nice post, BTW.

Tom

I am not sure on the distance. As far as I know it should work from 1Hz: physics is physics; though the plate used to scatter back the light would need to be VERY big to see anything useful