Are Solid-State Speakers the Future of Audio?

A quiet revolution is happening in the world of sound. For decades, speakers have relied on vibrating membranes to push air and create audio waves. That worked well enough, but the limitations were obvious: distortion, resonances, and the struggle to deliver quality sound in tiny devices like hearing aids or wearables. Now, with the arrival of solid-state speakers, everything is about to change.

A New Way of Making Sound

Instead of a diaphragm moving back and forth, solid-state speakers use ultrasonic modulation to generate audio. The principle borrows from radio engineering, where a high-frequency carrier wave is modulated with the audio signal. At Sonic Edge, engineers take a 400 kHz ultrasonic pump and shape it into pristine sound across the full 20 Hz to 20 kHz hearing range. The result is rich bass, crystal-clear treble, and—most importantly—a flat frequency response in a package small enough for next-generation devices.

Why Sonic Edge Matters

Sonic Edge has built a complete chip-scale solution that includes both the speaker and a dedicated amplifier ASIC. That means manufacturers don’t need to redesign entire systems just to adopt this technology. Instead, they can drop in solid-state speakers where traditional drivers would have been too bulky or inefficient. Hearing aids are an obvious use case, but think bigger: smart glasses, medical devices, or even IoT nodes that need audio output.

Efficiency That Redefines Expectations

One of the major drawbacks of conventional speakers is inefficiency. Converting electrical energy into mechanical movement and then into sound wastes most of the input power. Typical systems achieve less than 1% efficiency. By contrast, solid-state speakers can reach conversion efficiencies of over 30% at ultrasonic frequencies, with real-world performance exceeding 3% once modulation is included. That may sound modest, but compared to traditional audio drivers, it’s a huge leap forward.

The Broader Picture

If you think this is just about making hearing aids sound better, think again. Solid-state speakers have the potential to change how we design everything from consumer electronics to medical equipment. By eliminating moving parts, they offer higher reliability, lower power consumption, and the ability to fit in impossibly small spaces. And because Sonic Edge is using techniques familiar to RF engineers, the crossover between communication and audio domains could spark entirely new product categories.

Final Thoughts

Technology shifts usually happen quietly, and then suddenly they’re everywhere. Solid-state speakers may be in that early stage now, but the promise is clear: smaller, more efficient, and better-sounding audio for all kinds of devices. With Sonic Edge leading the charge, the future of sound might just be solid.