Precedent
Mogees – Gesture recognition with contact-microphones from bruno zamborlin on Vimeo.
Date: February 27, 2012
Project: Mogees
Creator: Bruno Zamborlin
Mogee allows any surface to become a platform for creating sounds and music. By using a contact microphone, gestures are recorded and interpreted by software to turn them into specific sounds. The project creator wants to give people the ability to create music in any setting through interaction with the environment. This product is great because anyone can use it, not just those with a musical background. Bruno Zamborlin’s Mogee could be useful for my future projects because it is engaging, targets a broad audience, and changes the way people perceive music using a contact microphone device. A drawback of this device is that it is very disruptive to the surround environment.
Synesthetic Timeline @ Fraport Airport (2013) from james clar on Vimeo.
Date: July 10, 2013
Project: Synesthetic Timeline
Creator: James Clar
James Clar is an artist who visualizes sounds from the surrounding environment using a combination of computers, microphones, and LED lights. This light structure provides real-time feedback of ambient sounds. The one problem I see with this project is that it’s an art installation and not necessarily a functional design. Therefore, effectively communicating noise level to a broad audience is not his first priority. However, I am attracted to this work because it uses a combination of visual design and technical skill to create something people can appreciate. One thing I can borrow from this project is its focus on great aesthetics.
Date: May 10, 2013
Project: Eidos Futuristic Headgear
Creators: Tim Bouckley, Millie-Clive Smith, Mi Eun Kim and Yuta Sugaware of Royal College of Art and Imperial College London
Eidos Audio is a wearable device that enables the user to use selective hearing. It is similar to noise cancelling headphones, except for the specific sound the user wants to hear. The device uses three microphones (Left, Right, Middle) to detect sound, and its software filters out noise from the left and right microphones. However, sounds detected from the middle microphone are directly outputted through the internal middle speaker (located near the mouth) allowing the user to only hear noises right in front of him or her. I like this project because it has many practical applications and solves a problem many people have. A drawback is the inherent function of the device itself. By eliminating “unwanted” sounds, a person’s experience and perception of an event is severely altered. This may have negative consequences on how the user may act. In addition, the creator could have made the device less cumbersome because it looks like a giant hockey mask. This project gave me a new perspective because I learned microphone can also be used to eliminate sound, not just detect it.