Patent Review: Extended Duct with Damping for Improved Speaker Performance

This article reviews a patent granted to Apple, describing an electronic audio device including an enclosure having an acoustic output opening and a speaker positioned within the enclosure, as implemented in the company’s range of iMac desktop computers. The speaker and the acoustic output opening are acoustically coupled by an acoustic output pathway and damping chamber. Apple’s patent cites the Matsushita patent as prior art, but this is a more developed concept. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, December 2015.

Panasonic Corporation, based in Osaka, Japan, recently confirmed that it has completed the previously announced transfer of its semiconductor business to Nuvoton Technology Corporation, a Taiwan-based semiconductor company under the umbrella of Winbond Electronics Corporation group, following the receipt of regulatory approvals.