Imagine going to a concert where the band members need nothing but their clothing to create the same dazzling spectacle they provided when they still carried their instruments. That dream might be coming true this year after Shu-Te University employed X-Static fiber, which emits sounds that are comparable to actual musical instruments via the transmission of digital signals, in its clothing designs.
Department of computer science and informational technology assistant professor Huang Yung-jen (黃永仁) said that a research team at the department has utilized silver in X-Static fiber to transmit signals, adding that precautions have been taken so that the wearer will not get an electric shock.
The team also ensured that the hidden sensors in the cloth are removable so that the clothes could be washed, thus enabling repeated use, Huang said.
Photo: Chen You-cheng, Taipei Times
The research group is in the process of tweaking the design, such as changing the reception device from an audio output device to portable stereo devices, Huang said.
In practice, the clothing would be able to emit sounds when it is touched by transmitting the signals to a portable device on the wearer’s belt, the university said.
Student Tsou Sheng-chuang (鄒勝壯) said he has been playing the drums for many years and using the clothing was not hard to learn.
The sound quality is comparable to that of actual instruments, which could remove the necessity of carrying around heavy instruments such as drums, Tsou said.
However, guitarist Hung Yi-shan (洪誼珊) said it was difficult for her to grasp how to play music with the clothing and she had to try it for three days before getting the hang of it.
“It’s just different without the actual instrument in my hands, but it’s a great feeling to be able to play music wherever I want to,” Hung said.
The university said it hopes its products will help to integrate entertainment and fashion with the concept of healthy living.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching