Michael Parrella is looking for partners in peace. His company, Noise Cancellation Technologies Inc., has developed the first generation of tools designed to transform irritating background noise into a solemn hush. "We can take out the noise and leave the signal," brags Parrella. "Our antinoise technology can measurably improve society in my lifetime."
Anyone who has sampled NCT's Noisebuster headphones won't dismiss Parrella's boast. The company's antinoise processors all but cancel out unwanted lower-frequency sounds by creating inverse acoustic waves that neutralize offending clatter. The net result is the sound of (near) silence. Now Parrella is calling on makers of planes, trains, and vacuum cleaners to integrate NCT's antinoise systems into existing products.
Intrigued CEOs will first want to visit Parrella's demo facility a nondescript 25-foot by 35-foot storage room near Baltimore, Maryland, that has been turned into a circus of quietude. A small pool of turbulent water, convulsing in response to a vibration generator installed below, is instantly stilled when the NCT antinoise system is activated; noxious helicopter noise is all but nullified in a "zone of quiet" easy chair; static vanishes from an AM radio; and most impressive of all, an assistant successfully manipulates a computer using voice-recognition software from a distance of eight feet with a screaming vacuum cleaner at his side.
The voice-recognition magic comes courtesy of NCT's new Adaptive Speech Filter, the culmination of five years of research and tinkering. "Computers have to be taught an algorithm to recognize voices, and they can't tolerate noise," says Parrella. "When we improve the signal-to noise ratio, we improve the voice recognition."
With speech filtering and other antinoise applications, NCT hopes to become the Dolby of digital communication. "Right now, the infobahn delivers whatever you put into the other end, including noise," Parrella explains. "Our job is to clean up the entrance and exit paths."
After cyberspace, the world. NCT has already developed quieter car mufflers and airplane cabins, and it's hungry for more.
But what can you do about a barking dog? I ask.
Parrella shoots back a quick answer: "Use a .45."
SCANS
The Quiet Revolution
