New York’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, in collaboration with US electronics company Avnet, has developed a vibrating suit that enables the deaf to experience live music. This is reported by npr on Tuesday. The event center hosted a “silent disco” where the suits were tried out.
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It is very difficult for the deaf to experience live concerts. One possibility is for sign language interpreters to translate the songs. The deaf don’t get the music that way. At best, they perceive the vibrations of the sound pressure from the loudspeakers – either via balloons that they hold in their hands or via their feet when the loudspeakers are pointed at the floor.
The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts did not want to accept these restrictions and developed a suit that has a total of 24 vibrating plates. There are 20 plates in a vest. It is worn close to the upper body so that the vibrations are better transmitted to the body. The four remaining plates are attached to the wrists and ankles.
The suit can create a whole range of sensations. So it can feel like raindrops are falling on your shoulders; a tickling can be felt up to a throbbing in the lower back area, writes npr.
feel music
To explore the potential of these suits, the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts hosted a party called “Silent Disco: An Evening of Access Magic”. Interested parties could try out 75 suits there. Most of these went to hard of hearing and deaf people.
The vibrations are mixed by a haptic DJ, who controls the position, frequency and intensity of the emotion generated by the suits – much like a DJ putting music together. “We take the signals from the DJ and we can pick and mix what we want and send it to different parts of the body,” said Paddy Hanlon, haptic DJ on the night and co-founder of the Music: Not Impossible project, dedicated to Deaf Music wants to make tangible. “For example, I focus on the bass element and send that out, and then the high hats and the snare.”
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The suit was well received by the hearing impaired. They unanimously reported that the suit didn’t just vibrate, but picked up and haptically conveyed various things in the music.
(olb)
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2023-07-19 03:40:01
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