The Soundshirt

CIU111’s Week 8 class was centred around the topic of ‘Inclusive Design’. Though this Inclusive Design was one of the more complicated topics of the module, it is something that interests me on a both personal and creative level.

The lecture discussed how on our journey to become creative practitioners, we will be dealing with a large variety of diverse cultures. Some examples were shown of how other creators have worked with a number of different cultures in an ethical, non discriminatory and inclusive manner. A topic that was raised in class that I particularly found interesting was the different ways inclusive design can be used in the Audio Industry.

After doing some research in class, I discovered a new piece of technology produced by a London based ‘wearable technology’ company, Cutecircuit. The company is known for producing clothing and accessories that are a hybrid of fashion and digital technology. An Example of some of the work created by Cutecircuit is the Kinetic Dress, a dress which is embedded with LED’s that illuminates based on the movement of the wearer, for instance the faster the walk, the brighter the dress gets ("Kinetic and cameleon garments", 2004). Though originally Designed in 2004, the technology found in the dress continues to be applied to other garments designed by Cutecircuit, which are still worn by celebrities such as Katy Perry and U2 (Tang, 2014).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi9u7tA6218

Though the company has an already interesting lineup of clothing, one of their designs in particular I found to be really useful in inclusive design in the Audio Industry. In 2016, cutecircuit announced a new design, The Sound Shirt. The Sound Shirt was designed to allow deaf people and people with hearing impairments to feel music rather than hear it. According to the official cutecircuit website: “The Soundshirt features 16 micro-actuators embedded in the fabric of the garment, these actuators receive wirelessly and in real-time the music, transformed in data, that is captured on stage while the orchestra is playing. In this way the violins can be felt on the arms and the drums on the back creating a fully immersive feeling for a deaf audience member” ("The SoundShirt", n.d.).

The shirt uses the technology of smart textiles (fabric with technology woven into it), to produce sensations of touch on the body of the user wearing it. In this case, it converts sound energy into small vibrations which change depending on pitch or intensity (Moideen, 2017).

The sound shirt was tested in collaboration with the Junge Symphoniker Hamburg Orchestra (Germany) in order to give deaf participants an immersive experience (Ayque, 2016). The CEO of Cutecircuit, Ryan Genz says that “"The deeper, heavier bass notes [activate the actuators] down in lower parts of torso, and the lighter sections, like violin and lighter notes, further up on the body, around the neck area and clavicle. As they're watching the orchestra, they can see certain areas are more active than others; they feel soundwaves in specific areas of the body, and within a few minutes understand there is a correlation” (Meyer, 2016).

In a report done on the topic, a similar piece of technology was discussed: “-a prototype system designed to enrich the experience of music for the deaf by enhancing sensory input of information via channels other than in-air audio reception by the ear. The system has two main components—a vibrating ‘Haptic Chair’ and a computer display of informative visual effects that correspond to features of the music. The Haptic Chair provides sensory input of vibrations via touch” (Nanayakkara, Taylor, Wyse & Ong, n.d.).

I believe that this technology could be used in audio production to allow deaf people to still be able to create sound, by using wearable technology. For Instance, a common tool used in shaping pretty much any sound is an Equaliser. A common example of a basic equalizer is the feature that can be seen on your car, such as: bass, middle, treble.

An Equaliser allows us to alter the volume on certain frequencies in a sound, such as adding more bass etc ("What Is an Equalizer, and How Does It Work?", 2016). As Genz stated, the lower bass notes (lower frequency) are felt lower on the torso, so what if we mapped this out to software so that deaf users can feel what frequencies they are altering rather than hearing it?

The intensity / volume of the sound can also be linked to intensity of the vibration on the shirt, and perhaps these ideas could be developed on to add more functionality to the shirt rather than just experiencing live music. This technology might not necessarily allow those who are deaf to create full productions, but it could make jobs such as being a general sound technician for a theatre or venue now accessible.

What I personally have taken from researching this is that there could potentially be a field of work for me in accessibility in audio. A career path I have not yet thought of is helping to develop productions like the Junge Symphoniker Hamburg Orchestra did, and this is something I could now consider in my future.

References

Ayque, J. (2016). This Hi-Tech Clothing Could Help Deaf People ‘Feel’ an Orchestra. Retrieved from https://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/30264/20161018/hi-tech-clothing-help-deaf-people-feel-orchestra.htm

Kinetic and cameleon garments. (2004). Retrieved from http://we-make-money-not-art.com/cute_circuit_an/

Meyer, D. (2016). http://fortune.com. Retrieved from http://fortune.com/2016/05/18/cutecircuit-sound-shirt/

Moideen, S. (2017). "Sound Shirt" - An innovation for "deaf" people to "feel music." Retrieved from http://www.e4ent.com/pages/sound-shirt-innovation-deaf-people-feel-music/

Nanayakkara, S., Taylor, E., Wyse, L., & Ong, S. An Enhanced Musical Experience for the Deaf: Design and Evaluation of a Music Display and a Haptic Chair. Retrieved from http://cs.utsa.edu/~jpq/Site/teaching/uiu-f10/10.pdf

Tang, S. (2014). CuteCircuit Clothing Lights Up Katy Perry, U2; Develops HugShirt. Retrieved from https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/katy-perry-u2-wear-cutecircuit-687590

The SoundShirt. Retrieved from http://cutecircuit.com/soundshirt/

What Is an Equalizer, and How Does It Work?. (2016). Retrieved from https://www.howtogeek.com/59467/htg-explains-what-is-an-equalizer-and-how-does-it-work/

Image sources:

https://www.popsugar.com/fashion/Katy-Perry-Light-Up-Dress-2010-Met-Costume-Institute-Gala-8319906

https://youtu.be/Wi9u7tA6218

https://thefuturesexy.wordpress.com/tag/cutecircuit/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V3XQZZCED4