Hindsight · review build · data not yet validated

High-resolution sound anywhere in 3D space

Ray Kurzweil, Books and essays, 1999, published 1999-01

Sound producing speakers are being replaced with very small chip-based devices that can place high-resolution sound anywhere in three-dimensional space. This technology is based on creating audible frequency sounds from the spectrum created by the interaction of very high frequency tones. As a result, very small speakers can create very robust three-dimensional sound.

Source

Verdict

missTwo blind graders agree (D7, rule D16). Not in the audit sample (D11).

Grader A: miss

Ultrasound-based directional sound (Audio Spotlight, HyperSonic Sound) existed from 1996-2000 but stayed a niche for museums and retail displays. It did not replace ordinary speakers; as of 2014 only five marketed devices used it.

Test: At least 50% of new speaker units using ultrasonic chip-based sound: effectively 0% in 2009 and under 5% by 2014.

Sound from ultrasound (Wikipedia) (retrieved 2026-09): Audio Spotlight and HSS remained niche; as of 2014 only five marketed devices existed; they did not replace standard speakers.

Grader B: miss

Ultrasound-based directional speakers stayed niche (five marketed devices by 2014) and did not replace conventional speakers.

Test: Device test: well under 5% of speakers by 2014.

Wikipedia: Sound from ultrasound (accessed 2026-09-28): Audio Spotlight commercial 2000; by 2014 only five marketed devices; niche use, did not replace loudspeakers.

All captured fields

rank: 20
kind: decade_prediction
section: Computers
subject: High-resolution sound anywhere in 3D space
target year: 2009
timing: in
position: Chapter 9, "2009"; item Computers 20 in Kurzweil 2010, p. 28
confidence: high
note: Wording as reproduced by the author in "How My Predictions Are Faring" (2010); book page not given there. Subject label is the essay's own item heading.