Garment Design

Constructing a garment that contains a sizable amount of hardware, is able to transmit detectable vibration patterns, is comfortable, safe, and easy to wear is not a simple task. An extraordinary amount of preparation was and is still needed to make this happen. After much discussion, the team decided that a vest would best suit the purpose of our team’s goals. We wanted a something that would fit close to the body, especially along the back of the spine, so that the vibrating pads would gently press against the skin of the wearer. We also needed something sturdy enough to hold the lily pads, batteries, wires, etc. We are able to incorporate a lining within the vest which allows us to hide most of the wiring and lily pads. Since the lily pads and wires are washable, they are able to remain in the vest lining at all times. However, the microphone, preamp, batteries, and vibrating pads are non-washable, and need to be mounted in such a way as to enable easy removal.

We still have a lot of experimentation ahead of us in terms of placement issues. Wiring, relative proximity of each item, and comfort on the body are all areas of concern. There was some early discussion about how to make the garment one size fits all. However, this issue has become less and less a priority as the hardware placement became more complex. We are still considering making the size of the garment somewhat adjustable with added straps on the back of the vest. These will let the wearer tighten the back of the vest so that the strip of vibrating pads will always touch the back of the spine. In terms of fabric, we were thinking along the lines of lightweight cotton twill for the front and sturdy cotton knit for the back of the vest, so that it can stretch smoothly across the back. Again, these are still preliminary ideas, and there is a lot of testing ahead of us, so we expect things to change.

We feel confident that we will be able to pull off a vest that is able to translate sound into comprehensive and discernable vibrations, while making whoever is wearing the vest look stylishly modern, of course. I myself have never incorporated this much technology into anything I’ve made in the past, so I am all the more excited to work with a team to face the challenge. If all goes according to schedule, this will be one of the coolest design projects I have ever participated in.

-Stewwie

How it all Began

The origins of our design concept are a bit strange, I was working on a musical project and decided to take a short break, so I took off my headphones, set them on my leg, and forgot about them. A few moments later I felt a faint intermittent buzzing sensation and realized I hadn’t paused the music. I’d been working on an electronic track, and the kick drum was sufficiently loud to the point that it caused noticeable vibrations. I had a flash of insight, and picked my headphones back up. I tried placing them on my arm, then my neck, then on my face. I closed my eyes for a while and was able to figure out what section of the song I was listening to based on the vibrations. I was literally feeling the music, in the tactile sense of the word. I experimented with a few more songs, and texted a few of my friends about my discovery. They probably thought I was crazy… I thought, “This is cool.”

I sketched an idea for a set of wearable vibrating pads in my notebook, and approached a few people with the idea. I was working on a project with Devin Kerr, an alumi of the Performing Arts Technology program; He had a firm grasp of microcontrollers and had spent time working at a hearing research lab. He pointed me towards the Arduino unit, which facilitates creative interaction with electronic hardware.

I still didn’t know nearly enough about signal processing to know how to build the hardware, but I knew I’d want to access individual frequency regions and send them to separate vibrating pads, which meant I’d need to employ a mathematical process known as an FFT. It seemed like this could potentially have an amazing effect.

I held a number of discussions with Dan Budai, a PAT major and Electrical Engineer with some serious DSP chops. He helped me wrap my head around the FFT, and pointed me towards some code for the Arduino. Then, out of the blue, I opened my email inbox one day and was hit with the following subject line:

“Design Competition to enable the deaf to "feel" the music”

Was this for real? Had someone been reading my notes? I looked into the details and couldn’t believe what I was reading. This design competition was the perfect chance to turn this idea into a reality. Unfortunately, neither Dan nor Devin could be a part of the team, as they were no longer students at the University. I sent out an email to the Performing Arts Technology department, and was absolutely floored by the responses I received. Not only are these individuals knowledgeable in the field, they are extremely interested in the idea, and highly motivated to boot. Team Thumping Threads consists of:

Robert Alexander – M.A. Media Arts, Second Year

Chris Conover - Junior (PAT B)

Rishi Daftuar – Senior (PAT – D / Electrical Engineering)

Stewart Randolph – Senior (PAT B)

Matt Rose – Sophomore (PAT D / Computer Engineering)

I couldn’t ask for a better team. Matt and Rishi have begun conducting extensive research into the digital signal processing aspect of the project, during any given meeting they can be found experimenting with the arduino, or gathered around a computer science textbook. Stewwie, who is a PAT major by day and fashion designer by night, has begun working on a design for the jacket, I've never seen anyone fill up pages in a sketchbook so fast. Chris and myself are prone to intense brainstorming sessions as to the future direction of the project, he's kept the big picture in focus at all times by managing a timeline and flowchart. I need to watch myself when discussing a piece of software that might be helpful for the project, he just might pick it up and learn it in a few hours.

These past few months have been exciting. We initially believed the September 18th meeting was the halfway point, it turned out to be the launch meeting. In that sense we're a bit ahead of the curve, however, our design idea is ambitious and we can't really afford to be anywhere else. Every meeting has been full of ups and downs. We've been known to make a huge technological breakthrough and stumble across a completely unexpected pitfall all within the space of ten minutes. With months to go until the final prototype is due, we're running on all cylinders. Check back for updates.

-Rob

Up and Running

Hi. We're a team for the Feel The Music design competition sponsored by the Deaf Performing Artist network in conjunction with several departments at the University of Michigan. The competition is focused on the idea of creating a new way to experience music, and the sonic world. Anything is valid, from a light board that spits out RGB values in response to the Beastie Boys, to a cotton candy machine that mixes food coloring based on consonance in classical music. Our team has decided to design a vest with an array of built in vibrating pads that respond to environmental sounds. Such a device will be seamlessly integrated and self powered such that it can be worn inconspicuously to any venue.