e-textiles make sounds like electronic musical instruments when users touch or stretch them

E-textiles can be Electronic musical instruments

Researchers Dr. Sophie Skach and Dr. Victor Shepardson have devised E-Textiles, a set of smart fabrics that can produce sounds like musical instruments when people touch them. This fabric research is part of the Intelligent Instruments Lab, from which the Halldorophone and Stacco musical instruments originated. In this project, the researchers incorporate materials such as silver threads and steel fibers into the fabrics to give them electronic properties, hence the name E-textiles.

In this way, the cloth can function like touch screens or interact with external digital devices to mix and compose music. When people palm through the smart fabric, the E-textiles produce sounds comparable to ASMR scratches and water sloshes. They are also soft to the touch, and because they are made of yarn-like fabrics, they are malleable enough to fit the size of the target musical instrument. So far, the E-textiles project is ongoing research, and Dr. Sophie Skach has published studies related to the smart fabrics, including pressure sensors in trousers.

all images courtesy of Dr. Sophie Skach and Intelligent Instrument Labs

Flexible and soft ‘smart’ fabrics that can produce sounds

At the Intelligent Instruments Lab, Dr. Sophie Skach and Dr. Victor Shepardson explore other materials that can be musical instruments. Traditionally, these sound-making devices are made of rigid materials such as wood, but the E-textiles project could prove that this is not always the case. On top of this, interfaces used to compose digital music often feature plastic or metal. The researchers believe there is limited flexibility within this range of materials. ‘We ask how we can design instruments that are soft, warm, and flexible. We are interested in how such materials can afford new ways of interaction,’ say the researchers.

Next, they turned to textiles to answer their query. ‘Textiles are one of those materials that we are ubiquitously surrounded by, in constant touch with, and therefore very familiar as an interface,’ the researchers explain. So far, they have produced E-textiles that users can stretch, squeeze, stroke, and use to potentially coat their musical instruments. These smart fabrics can generate sounds that may complement music composition and, in a way, transform instruments into intelligent devices through their surfaces. The design team has tested applying their E-textiles to mixing decks as woven and knitted fabrics, as well as to synthesizers using crocheted soft sculptures.

E-Textiles are smart fabrics that can act like electronic musical instruments