DMU News: A way of touching sound

An intriguing way of converting music and sound into something you can see and touch has been developed by researchers at De Montfort University (DMU). They have created a sound sphere – and their physical model of what a piece of music looks like could open a wide variety of commercial uses. The concept could be used to help the deaf, in a similar way that Braille helps the blind to read. Or it might be the basis for futuristic furniture designs. Or people may want to buy and display models of their own voice patterns. The surface of the sound sphere is covered in ridges running laterally around it, each representing a set of frequencies within the sound, with the lowest frequency (bass) at the bottom - the ‘south pole’ - and the highest frequency (treble) at the top - the ‘north pole’. Following each ridge around the sphere is equal to observing the signal change over time ­– the more the ridge sticks out, the louder the sound in that given frequency was at that given time.

http://www.dmu.ac.uk/about-dmu/news/2013/june/a-way-of-touching-sound.aspx