Music brings a kind of joy and peace to the body and mind that is truly incomparable. Sadly, people suffering from deafness cannot experience this joy. However, scientists have made apparel that can make them feel the music,?and bring the same joy and peace to them.
Sound Shirt
The product is called Sound Shirt. It comes equipped with 16 sensors that send vibrations through the whole body in accordance with the music being played to offer an immersive experience to the wearer.?
The product is specifically designed for capturing audio at concerts. The shirt is connected to a computer system (wirelessly) which is connected to a series of microphones that are placed at different places near the stage.?
Sound Shirt
The vocals and instrument audio will be captured by these microphones and translated into sensations with the help of haptic sensors embedded in the apparel.?
Ryan Genz, CEO of Cute Circuit (which is also the brand responsible for making clothing for pop sensation Katy Perry), the brand that has created Sound Shirt said in a statement to Fortune, "We mapped intuitively how we thought the music would map to the body. 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."
He further added, "As they're watching the orchestra, they can see certain areas are more active than others; they feel sound waves in specific areas of the body, and within a few minutes understand there is a correlation."
Sound Shirt
The entire shirt has no wires with the material made out of stretchable fabrics to give its wearer a comfortable fit. They're making the use of smart fabrics and a combination of microelectronics that work with the conductive fabrics.
This feeling of music however, doesn't come cheap as these Sound Shirts cost a good $3,673 or around Rs 2,55,000. But we can surely expect that with time, cheaper alternatives could enter the market, making people with deafness experience the magic of music.?