| The Quality of Life Technology
(QoLT) Center’s Foundry program launched the new company VibeAttire, Inc.
in June 2009 to market technology developed by a Carnegie Mellon University
(CMU) student associated with QoLT. The Center is one of NSF’s Engineering
Research Centers (ERCs) and is based at CMU and the University of Pittsburgh.
VibeAttire was created and
developed by Aubrey Shick, now a Ph.D. student at CMU in the Human-Computer
Interaction Institute (HCII), while she was receiving her B.F.A. in Industrial
Design, also at CMU. The initial impetus for VibeAttire was to provide
a means for deaf individuals and those with less severe hearing deficits
to experience the music that people with normal hearing take for granted.
However, VibeAttire has identified normal-hearing people as a market as
well. That’s because with the popular practice of listening to music
with ear buds, much of the fully enveloping aural experience intended by
the music’s creators is lost. Ear bud listeners hear the music, but
they do not feel the sensation of the sound waves upon their bodies.
In its initial form, VibeAttire
technology is incorporated into clothing and converts standard audio input
information into a vibro-tactile experience. The vibro-tactile experience
provides a sense of pressure or touch using vibrating motors that are activated
from the output of audio devices. The system converts the audible
sound to enable the specific motors, embedded into the apparel, to vibrate
at mapped frequencies.
The patent-pending technology
offers a unique way to create and experience music: a surrounding and immersive
experience that exploits the listener’s tactile sensibilities. |
