By transmitting sound to the fingers, this technology could help people with hearing loss and support musicians in their daily practice.
Listening to music with your hands may sound like science fiction, but a team at Université Laval is working on some very special gloves. They are capable of transmitting sounds as vibrations directly to the fingers using small speakers. “You could put the piano on the thumb and the flute on the little finger,” explains Andréanne Sharp, a professor in the Faculty of Medicine and researcher at the CERVO Research Center, who leads the project.
The technology, developed in collaboration with Professor Jérémie Voix from the École de technologie supérieure (ETS), relies on activating brain areas associated with each finger to add a “tactile cue” to hearing. The musical experience is not the same as listening with our ears, the professor notes. She compares the sensation of the gloves to placing your hands on a speaker and feeling vibrations through your body.
The gloves could be used by people with hearing loss as a complement to hearing aids or cochlear implants. “It can sometimes be difficult for them to clearly understand speech or music in noisy environments, even with their devices,” says Professor Sharp, an audiologist by training and a musician by passion.
Read the full article on Ulaval Nouvelles.
