Invented a new fabric that can 'hear' sound

Scientists at Nanyang Technological University have invented a fabric that can detect and produce sound.

Clothing made of acoustic fabric can continuously monitor heart rate or breathing in real time based on skin vibrations. Thereby, the wearer can answer the phone and communicate through the outfit. In addition, the new fabric can also act as a hearing aid to help people with hearing loss find their way in noisy environments.

The fabric "hears" the sound.

In addition, according to Wei Yan, assistant professor at Nanyang Technological University, who led the research, their fabric could be integrated into the spacecraft's hull to detect the amount of space dust accumulated or used for building to detect cracks or stress caused by stress. It can even weave into smart nets to track fish in the sea.

The researchers manufactured acoustic fabric using stretchy fibers made of piezoelectric material, which is very sensitive to electrical signals. The new fabric pattern picks up small vibrations and converts them into electrical signals, which are recorded on a device for later testing. The team says their design was inspired by how the human ear works, which involves converting vibrations into an analog signal.

To demonstrate the idea, Yan and his colleagues exposed fabric woven with a special fiber to a range of acoustic vibrations from a quiet library to heavy traffic. The product successfully converts vibrations into a suitable electrical signal.

On the other hand, the team also looked at whether the new fabric could act as a speaker that translates electrical signal data into vibrations that we can hear. They recorded a sequence of words and inserted the recording into the fabric. The fabric pattern picks up electrical signals and converts them back into background vibrations that can be detected by the human ear.

In the first experiment, the team sewed fabric to the back of a T-shirt, then clapped their hands while standing in various positions. They wanted to see if the fabric sample could determine the direction in which the sound originated. The result is a product that detects the angle of sound from a distance of 3m. Next, the researchers sewed a compound thread to the hem of the shirt and let a healthy volunteer wear it. As expected, the fabric sample accurately tracked the volunteers' heart rates.