A new invention is keeping down the noise.


So what was your inspiration?

CHRIS FIELD: Noise from the third runway was the inspiration for my invention.

SARAH SCHOFIELD: So do you really think that there's a market for your product?

CHRIS FIELD: I've got no doubt in the world that that my product could benefit all the people in all the houses and units in Sydney.

SARAH SCHOFIELD: So can your invention really cut out this kind of noise?

CHRIS FIELD: Yeah, with my bricks installed in the average 3-bedroomed house we can cut up to 85 per cent of this type of noise out.

SARAH SCHOFIELD: Talk me through your prototypes.

CHRIS FIELD: Well, this is the first one from 1997, which came about from my PhD.

It worked, but it's big and ugly.

Went to 1998, and the next prototype was a lot smaller and a lot more streamlined.

1999, we got to fit a lot more tubes in it and the ventilation slot's a lot straighter.

Year 2000, we started experimenting with the materials we were going to use.

And then, this year, the final prototype -- the one that's going to make it happen for us.

SARAH SCHOFIELD: It's a lot better looking and a lot more compact than the previous models.

CHRIS FIELD: Yes, it's a lot more streamlined and it works much more efficiently in terms of noise reduction and ventilation.

SARAH SCHOFIELD: What sort of impact can one brick have for, say, an average home?

CHRIS FIELD: Well, each brick is designed to eliminate about 85 per cent of the noise being transferred from outside to in, so it is really significant.

SARAH SCHOFIELD: So how many bricks would you need in, say, an average three-bedroom home?

CHRIS FIELD: Well, each typical room would need two, so we're probably looking at about 10 to 15 per three-bedroom house.

SARAH SCHOFIELD: And what sort of cost would that come at?

CHRIS FIELD: We're aiming to put the product on the market for under $100 each.

BRANDON GIEN: You're looking at 1,000 inventions that have definitely come through our doors -- of that 1,000, you're actually looking at about 10 per cent that will actually have some commercial viability.

And of that 10 per cent, there'll probably be two or three that'll actually hit the market. So it's a very, very high drop-off rate and...

Inventors need to not only come up with a good idea for a product, but there also needs to be a market out there.

SARAH SCHOFIELD: The marketing of Chris Field's invention has been handed over to a corporate partner.

Is it really possible that in Australia there are people willing to throw $1 million at an invention like this?

CHRIS MATTHEWS: Yes, there are.

There's quite a few firms in Australia that specialise in investing in new technologies.

They assess them, they assess their potential, they assess the quality of the idea and the companies behind it and will put their money in.

SARAH SCHOFIELD: Some start-up finance has already been secured and if everything goes to plan, this Aussie innovation will become an export earner and will be on sale later this year.

CHRIS MATTHEWS: The noise problems which are becoming critical in Sydney now exist in dozens of other cities around the world, so we see this particular product as having great potential in a global marketplace.