"Ishin-Den-Shin" Wins Honorable Mention in Prix Ars Electronica 2013 Competition
Disney Research, Pittsburgh, has added a new dimension to interpersonal communication, creating a microphone that enables a person to record an audio message, transmit it silently through his body and reproduce it with the touch of a finger.
Called "Ishin-‐Den-‐Shin," a Japanese expression for communicating through an unspoken mutual understanding, the technology turns an audio message into an inaudible signal that is relayed by the body. When the communicator's finger slightly rubs an everyday object, the physical interaction creates an ad hoc speaker that makes it possible to hear the recorded sounds.
If the finger touches a recipient's ear, the message can be heard just by the recipient.
"Ishin-‐Den-‐Shin lends an unequaled level of intimacy to digital communications," said Ivan Poupyrev, principal research scientist and head of the interaction technology group at Disney Research, Pittsburgh. "It explores the continued blurring of the boundaries between the human body, the messages we generate and the world around us. It's almost as if a person's finger can whisper in your ear or playback a message hidden in an everyday physical object."
The technology also makes it possible for a group of people who are in physical contact to turn their bodies into a transmission medium, with the signal passing silently from one to another until someone touches an object.
Ishin-‐Den-‐Shin won an honorable mention in the interactive art category in Prix Ars Electronica 2013, the International Competition for CyberArts.
Disney project turns the human body into a stealthy speaker (video)
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