Music is an integral part of most people’s lives. You hear them in the car, in the shop, DJ at home, go to concerts, or dance to them in clubs. But there is also a large group of people who cannot easily experience music – the deaf community. Tactus has developed “smart clothing” that converts music into vibrations, suddenly making music more inclusive, both in experiencing and in making.
The brand’s founders are Jeremy Chow and Lucas Barton. The ball started rolling when Chow met Professor Laurie. The professor is not only deaf, but also a dancer and choreographer. The two shared a common passion: music. Through his friendship with the professor, Chow learned about the challenges the deaf community faces in experiencing music. For example, one way to experience music is to place your hands on a speaker to feel the vibrations. However, this way of experiencing music is very site-specific and Chow and Barton, both engineers, wanted to create a way to make music accessible everywhere. “We want to make it just as easy for the deaf to experience music as it is for the hearing”
Chow explained to FashionUnited that the basic concept of the music was not changed by Tactus. “Music is basically vibrations in the air, so we stuck with the vibrations. We take the frequencies of the music and convert them into vibrations with different frequencies.” Also, one of the reasons for working with vibrations is that the deaf community is already used to experiencing music in this way. They also feel the vibrations most strongly in their upper body, which is why the Tactus product is also aimed at this part of the body.
Barton explains that Tactus works a lot with the deaf and does a lot of research during the design process. “Our research has shown that deaf people use the same part of the brain that hearing people use when listening to music. This part of the brain is used by people with hearing disabilities to experience vibration. Deaf people have a larger part of the brain that senses vibrations, which suggests they are more sensitive to it.”
Portable Technology: Tactus helps the deaf experience music more easily
The innovation is incorporated into a top. This top currently comes in white and black, but the duo say they’ll be looking into other forms of the product in the future. “We want to provide the ability to personalize the product,” Chow explained at the Tommy Hilfiger Fashion Frontier Challenge, where Tactus was a finalist. The product will launch in late 2023, according to Chow and Barton. “We have been very focused on the technology and its integration into soft fabrics so far. Now that we know it works in textiles, we see flexible implementation in different forms.”
While Tactus didn’t take home any of the (cash) prizes at the Tommy Hilfiger Fashion Frontier Challenge, Barton and Chow point out that they’re fortunate to be able to continue on the path they’ve chosen. “We’ve been very fortunate with the scholarships we’ve received so far, and there are still a few we can apply for,” they say. Additional funding is required to bring the product to market and get it certified, Chow said.
When the two look to the future, they see several things. “We want to continue driving innovation in the field of wearable technology. We’re currently quite unique in the way we bring technology into a wearable form – something that’s unheard of on the market. It’s about how technology is incorporated into textiles,” says Chow. Barton adds that the two also wish for a future where the products are available in all schools for deaf children. “That way they could have access to music early in their school careers.”
Alongside this, Barton and Chow continue to work with the deaf community. “They are part of the process and we want it to stay that way. Your contribution is incredibly important to us,” the two said. The duo also hope that through their product, people with hearing disabilities will be able to pursue their passion for music: “The difficulties they have to go through and then still be so interested and passionate about music – that’s fantastic.”
This article was published on FashionUnited.nl. Translation and editing: Barbara Russ