Disney Research recently announced the development of Ishin-Den-Shin. As the name – which means “unspoken communication” in Japanese – implies, it’s a microphone that can capture your spoken words and let you pass it on to other people by simply touching them on the ear.

If this is the first time you’ve ever heard of Ishin-Den-Shin, that may sound a bit weird, but once we break down how it works you’ll see why the device’s creators received an honorable mention at the Prix Ars Electronica 2013.

As we can see in this video, the person speaking does so into an old-timey-looking Shure 55 microphone connected to a computer. Once they begin, the computer starts recording. When the message ends, the recording is made into a loop, with the computer then converting the audio data into an electric signal that is sent back into the microphone.

Traveling through the microphone, it generates an electrostatic field around the surface of the body which contains the looping audio data. This field is completely inaudible, but when the person holding the field touches someone else’s ear with their finger the signal converts back to a tiny audible vibration that can be heard in the touched ear only.

Moreover, touching another person in another way such as holding hands will cause the electrostatic field to spread to both people. This either person can send the recorded message by touching further people’s ears. Actually touching anything will turn it into a speaker, but whether it would be audible is unclear and probably depends on the object.

Ishin-Den-Shin is a neat device and could be fun to play around with. We’d recommend using it in the espionage field, but it’s hard to be sneaky with a huge broadcasting mic and wires connected to a computer. Congratulations to Ivan Poupyrev, Yuri Suzuki, and Oliver BauFirst on creating such an ingenious and highly entertaining device!

Source: Disney Research (English) via IT Media (Japanese)
Video: YouTube – DisneyResearchHub