BLINK BLING
The BLINK BLING was designed for people with hyperacusis, which is a condition of hypersensitivity to sound. People with hyperacusis need to wear a bulky construction earmuff to prevent themselves from the painful noise. However, the fashionable design for these earmuffs is still lacking because the products are not intended for everyday fashionable use. My aim for this project was to design a communication wearable, which allows people with hyperacusis to customize their construction earmuffs in an affordable and customizable way.
BLINK BLING is an earmuff cover, which can cover the construction earmuffs. The custom design I have created has optical fibers attached to the textiles, which are then attached to LED at each end.
LED will react to two features coded and run by Arduino.
One feature is the on and off button toggle and the other feature is the sound reactive LED.
Therefore when the sensor detects a loud noise, it will turn off the LED light for a few seconds, alerting people around to keep the noise down.
(You can play the video for a demo of these features).
The textile cover pattern (illustrator and pdf file) is available from my GitHub page.
Although the size of the pattern is designed for specific earmuffs, the pattern can easily be redesigned by measuring one's earmuffs.
To make the textile cover washable, the LED and optical fibers are attached with annular snap joints to make LED detachable from the textile. Snap joints are created with 3D printed parts.
The objective of this project was not only to create digital wearable with a customizable earmuff cover but to raise awareness of conditions of hyperacusis and invisible disability. For communication purposes, I have also created a zine discussing these issues along with the promotion of BLINK BLING.
You can check this site for online zine publication.
https://issuu.com/htmask/docs/together_with_disability_onlinezine_small