If you’re all about that bass, the work being done at the University of Tsukuba in Japan that turns your stomach into a subwoofer could be what you need in your life. Yes, you read that correctly, and no, it’s not a joke. Japanese researchers are working on a way to turn your abs into a bass-producing machine.
One of the features pitched about the tech is that it’s silent, since it combines “electrical muscle stimulation with low-frequency vibrations” to let users “physically feel deep bass in virtual reality (VR) and everyday music.” The neighbours will probably appreciate your subwoofer upgrade as much as you do.
Stomaching the subwoofer
The tech, in its current form, resembles the muscle stimulators commonly found in a physiotherapist’s office. Several pads stick to the abdominal area, where they can transmit “low frequencies [that combine] electrical muscle stimulation (EMS), which induces muscle contractions via weak electrical currents, with low-frequency vibrations.” Boom. Instant body-based subwoofer. It’s a touch more complicated than just sticking a few bits on, however.
Audio, whether in VR or as regular music, is passed through a small body-worn unit that sorts signals through a low-pass filter, a bass detector, and an electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) generator. These signals are translated through the unit and sent, shock-like, through human muscles. Purely to deepen in-game immersion, of course.
Many of the two dozen ‘subwoofer’ test subjects reported, once acclimated to the EMS sensations, “a more natural and enhanced sense of immersion.” But don’t expect the pseudo-speaker to pitch up at HiFi Corp or even on Amazon in a hurry.
The tech is still in development, with plans to be included with virtual reality setups in the future. A wearable woofer doesn’t seem like the worst idea to us. We’d give it a go, at least once or twice. We may skip the Archspire album listen-through, though. There’s only so much punishment a body can take.
