audio interaction

jennifer g. sends a link to the 'acoustic survival kit.' the idea, apparently, is that tiny sound generators embedded into clothing help you to discreetly blend with the urban crowd. from the designers' [curiously poorly designed] website:

"The design of 'ask 01' is discreet. It allows you to stay unnoticed while being part of the crowd. Freed from communication, contact to the inside is established. This allows you to get conscious about communication with the outside."

this is connected to the designers' "strategy":

"Our environment is filled with noise. The border between private and public has vanished. We are exposed to the situation and not aware of it. Our intuitive reaction is either to close all windows (of your room/ of your mind) or to cover it by loud music. What is missing in our environment is the sensibility.
"Our strategy is to work with subtle sounds emitted from special clothes. A person wearing the cloth interweaves with the sounds of the environment. With the filigree sound tentacles the individual fuses with other signals and information. In this way the individual acts neither passive (closing the windows) nor dominant (play loud music) but active."

a slightly more accessible overview of the project can be found here (scroll down).