The Soundshirt, from high-tech fashion company Cute Circuit, has embedded sensors that can sense sound and turn it into vibrations. In other words, it helps deaf people feel music. And since we’re talking about sounds, have you heard the Tiptree Sneeze, where a trombonist let loose in the middle of a concert?
The Soundshirt lets deaf people feel music on their skin (designboom)
Man sneezes into his trombone during concert – Tiptree sneeze (YouTube)
Tiptree trombone sneeze man tells of ‘freak event’ (BBC)
Today we’re talking about a shirt that can help deaf people feel music.
It’s called the Soundshirt, and it’s developed by a high-tech fashion company called Cute Circuit.
The shirt part of the Soundshirt you can probably guess, so here’s where the sound comes in.
There are 30 embedded sensors that not only pick up sound, they translate it into vibrations that the Soundshirt’s wearer can feel.
It’s similar to how if you see a band at a club, you can feel the vibrations from the amps and the speakers through your shoes.
But the Soundshirt kicks this up a level.
Instead of just translating the volume of the sound, it tries to translate the character of the sound as well.
One wearer in the promo video said she could recognize the more delicate vibrations of the strings from the more bombastic vibrations of the drums.
These are complex shirts and it’s no surprise that they cost thousands of dollars.
But rather than having every person who could use a Soundshirt buy their own, orchestras and concert halls might buy a few and then have them on hand so that everyone can be part of the concert, which would feel pretty good.
It’s also good to check out one of the great sounds to ever come out of a concert hall.
It’s called the Tiptree Sneeze, and it comes from a band concert in England, where a trombonist just let loose in the middle of the music, and made the most musical sneeze of all time.
Later he said, don’t try this at home, as you wouldn’t want to hurt your teeth on the metal mouthpiece.