“Microphone fiber” is something I never heard of until I read that a company is developing it for weaving into fabric.
The fiber “can detect speech and is very sensitive to vibrations,” a representative of the company, International Fabric Machines, said in a Q&A. The company “demonstrated the ability to record sound information and speech” with the fiber and is working with a partner company that is sorting out how to integrate the fiber into fabric, Marie O’Mahony writes in Specialty Fabrics Review.
The photo above shows “a microphone fiber strand on top of a fabric microphone array.”
This kind of research and development is part of a manufacturing space that includes both smart textiles and wearable technology.
The company doesn’t seem to be looking at an application this way, but it makes me wonder if someday musicians will be able to hum a riff into their shirt or whatever instead of recording a voice memo on their phone.
Further reading:
More about the intersection of science and music is here at the blog.
Photos: International Fabric Machines
