Listening Fabric
The world around us is expanding itself into a shell of opportunities. A tool for communication- the telephone has undergone huge changes and variations to come into a wearable device in the form of smartwatches. Wearing a watch is not just to check time anymore. It is also about reminders, alarms, health records, sleep cycles, and whatnot.
The focus for listening fabric
The focus has shifted from developing new tools to building new technologies to enhance and improvise existing tools. One such research has been on the possibility of wearable devices. People don’t want to carry additional devices with them. Instead, they are imbibing the technology into their dressing and accessories. Smartwatch, smart bracelet, VR screen, Bluetooth tracker, smart rings, etc. Another breakthrough research about wearable devices has been wearable fabrics.
Listening Fabric Development:
The researchers at the Rhode Island School of Design and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology developed a technology where piezoelectric fibers are woven along with fabric yarns. The wires are bendable to be woven along with the fabric of the cloth. It is sensitive enough to detect not just a heartbeat but also vibrations as small as at a nano-level. The wires convert the sound signals to electrical signals and transmit the information.
A study detailing the platoon’s design appears moment in Nature. Lead author Wei Yan, who helped develop the fiber as an MIT postdoc, sees numerous uses for fabrics that hear. “ Wearing an acoustic fabric, you might talk through it to answer phone calls and communicate with others, ” says Yan, an adjunct professor at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. “ In addition, this acoustic fabric can gradually affiliate with the mortal skin, enabling wear and tear to cover their heart and respiratory condition in a comfortable, nonstop, real-time, and long-term manner. ”
A breakthrough:
This breakthrough in technology has been highly appreciated by health professionals. It will enable them to detect heart rate, breathing pattern, and pulse rate at various parts of the body giving us real-time, continuous, and prolonged data on one’s health indicators. There are possibilities for incorporating the acoustic fabric into motherliness wear and tear to help cover a baby’s fetal twinkle. The apparel will be revolutionary in terms of its uses and benefits.
A fabric that “hears” your heart’s sounds :
All fabrics joggle in response to audible sounds, though these climates are on the scale of nanometers — far too small to naturally be tasted. To capture these inappreciable signals, the experimenters created a flexible fiber that, when woven into a fabric, bends with the fabric like seaweed on the ocean’s face. A new acoustic fabric converts audible sounds into electrical signals.
Apart from health, the fabric can be programmed to detect other signals such as the location of a person, daily routine, the sleep pattern of a person, etc. The listening fabric is washable, durable, and super comfortable to wear. Detection of any type of mechanical vibrations and converting those to electrical signals enhances the chances of detection of sounds like the chirping of birds, flowing water streams, or clapping of hands. These sound effects will not only be experienced by human ears but can be saved for future reference. QR code patterns on the fabric will enable financial transactions and ID scanning to be much more flexible.
Future:
No need to wait in queues for your turn at your doctor’s clinic or ATM booths, rather scan your dress at the counter. There may also come a day when we may see people talking about their clothes in public spaces. Setting an alarm, taking up calls, and listening to music can all be done by oral commands to the clothing. The 70s and 80s generations are often perplexed by how people talk on their mobile phones, and how a small Bluetooth earpiece gives access to communication even on the move.
A similar situation would be our experience when we would see people talking to their dress for reminders and steps walked each day. Thus, society will evolve to experience a technology where no other humans or living beings but humans start communicating with clothes and their listening dresses.
The Listening Fabric that “hears” your heart’s sounds as shown below :