你會穿一件能聽你說話的T恤嗎？
自從我們在大約 200 萬年前拋棄了祖傳的皮毛並成為“裸”猿以來，紡織布料一直是人類生活的核心。在其歷史的大部分時間裡，織物技術的發展都圍繞著新型纖維和提高生產能力。
但布料技術的全新時代已經開始。
基於布料織物在生活中極度普遍，並與人體有大量的接觸，美國麻省理工學院的一組研究人員因而啟發，將織物研究帶入了一個令人難以置信的新方向，開發出有「聽覺」的布料。
研究人員近期發表在《自然Nature》雜誌上，描述了他們開發出了一種可與「電」與「壓電(piezoelectric)」纖維交織的紗線。由此交織生產出的織物具有「聽覺」能力。這有點類似於人類耳朵的機制：布料介質扮演鼓膜的一部分，將可聽頻率的壓力波轉換為機械振動，然後可以將其處理成電信號。
開發有「聽覺」能力的 T 恤，聽起來可能令人有點摸不著頭緒。但研究人員表示，織物的這種轉變可能會產生令人興奮和深遠的後果，其用途從執法到監測心臟健康等等。
研究人員還設計了一款智能襯衫，該設計將多根纖維編織到身體的不同位置，利用信號檢測之間的時間延遲來精確定位傳入聲音的方向。他們說，這樣的衣服可能有助於警察偵測槍聲的方位，或者對於戴助聽器的人在消除背景噪音的同時聆聽特定方向的聲音。
對於有聽力障礙的人來說，可能還有更多潛在用途。通過簡單的修改，可以使織物播放可聽見的聲音並檢測它們，從而促進聾啞人士在佩戴該織物時可以互相交流。未來可雙向溝通的服裝，甚至可以讓我們在水下互相交談。
如果把這種織物覆蓋在您的胸前，還可以捕捉心臟信號——將您的襯衫變成一個聽診器，可以以舒適又長期的方式監測您的心臟和呼吸狀況。
重要的是，這種布料仍然易於洗滌，在漫長的一天聆聽結束後被扔進洗衣機。
翻譯編輯：ACOTEX服裝布料知識網
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Would you wear a t-shirt that could listen to you?
Since we ditched our ancestral fur and became ‘naked’ apes some two million years ago, fabrics have been central to human life. For most of their history, developments in fabric technology have centred around novel fibres and increasing production capabilities.
But a new era of fabric technology has begun.
Motivated by the ubiquity of fabrics, and their intimate proximity to the human body, a team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US, has taken fabric research in a mind-boggling new direction, developing fabrics that can ‘hear’ sounds.
Publishing in Nature, the researchers describe their development of a fabric yarn interwoven with an electrical, or ‘piezoelectric’ fibre. The resulting fabric has ‘hearing’ capabilities, using a mechanism similar to that of the human ear: the fabric medium plays the part of the tympanic membrane, converting pressure waves at audible frequencies into mechanical vibrations, which can then be processed into electrical signals.
Only a small quantity of the specialised piezoelectric fibre is needed to make fabric acoustically sensitive. A single fibre can be used to generate tens of square metres of fabric microphone, which is then capable of detecting even very weak sound signals, such as human speech.
Outside of fabric research circles, the drive to develop t-shirts that can listen to you may seem baffling. But the researchers say this transformation of fabrics could have exciting and far-reaching consequences, with uses ranging from law enforcement to monitoring heart health.
For example, the researchers trialled a shirt design that incorporated multiple fibres woven into different positions on the body, using the time delay between signal detection to allow the direction of incoming sounds to be pinpointed. They say that such a garment could be useful for police officers to narrow down the direction of a gunshot, or for individuals with hearing aids to listen in specific directions while removing background noise.
And there are more potential uses for those with hearing difficulties. With simple modifications, the fabric can be made to broadcast audible sounds as well as detecting them, facilitating communication between deaf individuals when both are wearing the fabric. Two-way communication garments could even let us talk to each other underwater.
Draped across the skin of your chest, the fabrics could also capture cardiac signals – turning your shirt into a stethoscope that could potentially monitor your heart and respiratory condition in a comfortable, continuous and long-term manner.
And importantly, the fabric is still easy-care, able to withstand being chucked in the washing machine at the end of a long day of listening.
Original Article: COSMOS Magazine
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