I'm inventing a new art form . . . vibrotactile music.

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cbranje

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Hey All

As part of my PhD studies in Industrial Engineering at UofT I'm designing and building the world's first (I think) vibrotactile instrument. This is an instrument that is designed to apply vibration to the skin rather than sound to the ear.

This is an extension of The Emoti-Chair project, which is a chair that was originally design the translate audio music into tactile music, giving more access to music information to the deaf and hard-of-hearing.

I'm blogging on the progress of my project and I invite you all to check it out and make comments or suggestions.

http://carmenbranje.blogspot.com/2011_03_01_archive.html

Thanks

Carmen
 
I don't get it, how does the 'listener' feel the vibrations from this thing? Do they sit on the speakers?
 
I got the GF something similar. You plug it into your ipod and...... well......

straight.jpg
 
Industrial engineering huh? Shouldn't you be designing a line up somewhere? :p
 
cbranje said:
Hey All

As part of my PhD studies in Industrial Engineering at UofT I'm designing and building the world's first (I think) vibrotactile instrument. This is an instrument that is designed to apply vibration to the skin rather than sound to the ear.

http://carmenbranje.blogspot.com/2011_03_01_archive.html

Thanks

Carmen
Click to expand...

Very cool idea. I can imagine how it would feel... music through touch. Have you programed any mainstream music through it yet?
 
Does it use the diatonic scale?

No, I'm going to develop a new scale that takes into consideration the limitations of the tactile sense. For example, you can't really feel anything about 1000 Hz, so my scale won't go above that. Also you have to space the "notes" much further apart because frequency discrimination is much more course for the skin.

The loss of fidelity is made up by using the Emoti-Chair which has 8 independent channels of vibration, which means space can now be used as an additional dimension of encoding.

Basically each keyboard will be mapped to a spot on the chair. Each keyboard will take that section of the chair through the full range of this new vibrotactile "scale" which I'm currently developing. I'm going to experiment with a few different modes.
 
cbranje said:
Basically each keyboard will be mapped to a spot on the chair. Each keyboard will take that section of the chair through the full range of this new vibrotactile "scale".
Click to expand...

Are you saying each keyboard will use the same range of frequencies and will only activate one section of the chair? If so, i think it would be very limiting to play using only two hands.

Perfect harmonics does make more sense than equal tempered considering the low frequencies. Have you ever looked at a hammond tone wheel generator? perhaps adding tones similar to the way the drawbars do.
 
mungo said:
Are you saying each keyboard will use the same range of frequencies and will only activate one section of the chair? If so, i think it would be very limiting to play using only two hands.
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Anymore limiting than a traditional piano? There are 88 keys on those bad boys, only 10 fingers . . .
 
cbranje said:
Anymore limiting than a traditional piano? There are 88 keys on those bad boys, only 10 fingers . . .
Click to expand...

From what I see in the pictures, a hand would span four keys comfortably ...maybe five or six if you really stretch? - correct me if I'm wrong. As opposed to 12-15 on a regular keyboard. But, I suppose, if the notes are all harmonies of your given root (lowest note i would assume) you would use adjacent keys much more often that on a traditional keyboard. But then again, in that case, the higher notes would not sound (feel) good together.

It also seems to me that assigning each keyboard to a specific section of the chair would only let you activate two sections of the chair at any given time. This would limit the dynamics of the "music" because you wouldn't be able to move from an isolated vibration to a full on, whole orchestra sensation. Also, if you could, the ability to sweep a tone around the chair would have an even more dramatic affect ...i would thnk

Have you considered using very low frequencies (maybe 1-10 Hz) to give some sense of rhythm?
 
cbranje said:
Also you have to space the "notes" much further apart because frequency discrimination is much more course for the skin.
Click to expand...

Is frequency discrimination that much more coarse through the skin for deaf people too? Perhaps for you and I, but I think it would be worth investigating (if you haven't already) how much more sensitive a deaf person is to vibration dissemination than you and I? I would hazard a guess that the longer someone has been deaf, coupled with the completeness of the loss of their hearing, would result in varying degrees of how well they sense tactile music. Sure, the very high frequencies or those spaced very close together may present a problem, but to what extent do they have heightened perception than the non-hearing imparied, I would be curious to know.

mungo said:
Also, if you could, the ability to sweep a tone around the chair would have an even more dramatic affect ...i would think
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This would go a long way to adding depth and 'surround sound'.

I assume you have seen the movie "It's All Gone Pete Tong"? - which deals with a DJ who goes deaf and continues to DJ by feeling the music by placing speakers underneath his bare feet? So on that note, what are the human body's most sensitive parts to tactile sensation and how could you maximize those areas heightened sensitivities to encourage maximum perception of the music? Is there a reason that the user can only 'feel the music' through the back?
 
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shanekingsley said:
Is frequency discrimination that much more coarse through the skin for deaf people too? Perhaps for you and I, but I think it would be worth investigating (if you haven't already) how much more sensitive a deaf person is to vibration dissemination than you and I? I would hazard a guess that the longer someone has been deaf, coupled with the completeness of the loss of their hearing, would result in varying degrees of how well they sense tactile music. Sure, the very high frequencies or those spaced very close together may present a problem, but to what extent do they have heightened perception than the non-hearing imparied, I would be curious to know.



This would go a long way to adding depth and 'surround sound'.

I assume you have seen the movie "It's All Gone Pete Tong"? - which deals with a DJ who goes deaf and continues to DJ by feeling the music by placing speakers underneath his bare feet? So on that note, what are the human body's most sensitive parts to tactile sensation and how could you maximize those areas heightened sensitivities to encourage maximum perception of the music? Is there a reason that the user can only 'feel the music' through the back?
Click to expand...

Good point Shane K.

I am also curious how well they would enjoy a Godsmack album, lol.

D23 said:
I got the GF something similar. You plug it into your ipod and...... well......
Click to expand...

U need to send your GF to the dogs on GTAM, I think she would be happier
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