Sennheiser’s New Car Audio Doesn’t Use Any Speakers

An interesting trend coming to the fore in this year’s CES is how certain technologies are blending into each other and creating new opportunities for companies to enter new market sectors.

One of the tech companies innovating in new markets is Sennheiser, the German tech company that's probably better known for its range of microphones, headphones and other audio gear. Sennheiser has used CES to announce its move into creating in-car audio with the novel concept of using the car as a speaker to create a more immersive sound system.

Alongside technology specialist Continental, Sennheiser has used CES to display the new speakerless audio system for car interiors. Sennheiser claims that the new technology can fill a car’s interior with lifelike and immersive sound without using conventional speakers. Both companies have worked together to integrate Sennheiser’s patented AMBEO 3D audio technology into Continental’s Ac2ated Sound system.

The Ac2ated concept eschews traditional speaker technology completely and uses surfaces in a vehicle’s interior to create sound instead. Combined with Sennheiser’s AMBEO Mobility technology, the concept is claimed to achieve a breathtaking 3D sound that can surround passengers with a detailed and vivid soundscape. Compared to conventional audio systems, Ac2ated Sound translates into a reduction in weight and space over conventional speakers. Continental says this new way of creating an in-car sound not only delivers the highest audio quality but it’s also ideal for electric vehicles where saving space and weight is a major priority.

Commenting in a press release for the new technology, Helmut Matsch for Continental said: “For Ac2ated Sound, we brought together the highest levels of expertise in the areas of acoustics, infotainment and vehicle design. In Sennheiser, we found an audio expert who helped us make our pioneering audio system even better. Together, we’ve developed an audio system that creates premium sound out of nowhere. Additionally, Ac2ated Sound reduces space and weight.”

Meanwhile, Dr. Andreas Sennheiser, co-CEO of Sennheiser added: “We are delighted to bring our audio expertise and AMBEO Mobility software into the pioneering Ac2ated Sound system, by calibrating and fine-tuning the sound quality to deliver a completely immersive and natural sound experience.”

The new system works in the same way that sound is produced by classical string instruments such as a violin or a cello. In these instruments, the wooden body works like a resonance chamber. In the car, specially developed actuators excite specific surfaces in the vehicle’s interior to create sound. Sennheiser says that the resulting sound is an extremely natural experience for drivers and passengers who feel as if they are sitting in a concert hall surrounded by sound.

In comparison to a conventional speaker system, this new audio system is much lighter and takes up a lot less space. Conventional car audio systems can weigh up to 40 kilograms in some high-end installation with lots of components and speaker drivers. By using existing surfaces to create sound, Ac2ated Sound uses around 75 to 90 percent less space than a conventional sound system.

Because this new sound system is invisible, it gives vehicle designers and manufacturers the freedom to use a car’s interior for other purposes because there’s no need to accommodate the large speakers that normally take up valuable space in door panels and dashboards. With Ac2ated Sound, many components are unnecessary because the surfaces in the vehicle vibrate just like a speaker diaphragm. Actuators vibrate components like a car’s A-pillar trim, door trim, roof lining, and rear shelf so that they emit sound in different frequency ranges.

Continental and Sennheiser were showing off their new technology in a private show at CES 2020, where visitors were able to experience how the system responds to the challenges for the next generation of vehicles.