There have been a lot of technologies developed recently to help hearing-impaired people perceive sound. The latest invention to do so is the Emoti Chair, an audio-tactile device developed by Ryerson University, which promises to ensure good vibrations for the hearing impaired by translating live music into mechanical responses.

Emoti Chairs are the work of Ryerson University's Alternative Sensory Information Displays (ASID) project (developed by Ryerson University’s Centre of Learning Technology and the Science of Music, Auditory Research and Technology - SMART). A computer inside each chair analyzes sound frequencies using a similar mapping to the human cochlea. These frequencies are then translated into mechanical responses – including motion, vibration, and blasts of air on the face. So, basically, what the Emoti Chair does is translate sound into motion.

 

The concept in itself is already a beautiful and a revolutionary one, opening our beloved musical world to the hard-hearing people, but it is also an intriguing and very interesting means of experiencing music like never before.

 

The chair has already been tested and researchers are very pleased with the result. “It seemed that deaf people were able to identify the emotions that a hearing person would. The people became really animated, they would just dance in the chair and many of these people have been deaf from birth,” said Frank Russo, director of SMART Lab.

 

As interesting and useful as it may seem, this system is still to be trialled; unfortunately, there is no information available on whether it will be mass produced or not. However, if that happens, it will probably cost quite a lot, as there is high-end technology embedded in the Emoti Chair. If you think about it, regular massage chairs go for a few hundreds of dollars, and this chair is definitely a lot more, serving not only the hearing-impaired, but also people who want to experience music in a different way, using multiple senses.

 

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