The scientists and engineers creating this have great intentions. What it will really be used for, I'm afraid, is audio billboards and in-store audio-enabled ad posters.
Maybe we'll be lucky and sports bars with TVs at every booth will use them to focus TV audio only to the individual booth.
Or coating entire walls and ceilings to track people with ultrasound without them even knowing. Depending on how good the resolution is, maybe even identifying people?
> Because the tiny domes are vibrating, rather than the entire film, the loudspeaker has a high enough resonance frequency that it can be used effectively for ultrasound applications, like imaging, Han explains. Ultrasound imaging uses very high frequency sound waves to produce images, and higher frequencies yield better image resolution.
> The device could also use ultrasound to detect where a human is standing in a room, just like bats do using echolocation, and then shape the sound waves to follow the person as they move, Bulović says.
As penitence, they could use the profits to open a fund that rewards people who achieved great things in fields on human endeavor. Let’s say chemistry, physics, literature, activism, etc. A committee would get together on an annual basis to select the nominees and award the prized to the winners. Maybe the ceremony could take place in countries of temperate climate in the northern hemisphere.
Maybe we'll be lucky and sports bars with TVs at every booth will use them to focus TV audio only to the individual booth.