We’ve all heard a friend say: “Let me show you this song,” but isn’t that impossible? The senses conventionally have one, and only one, input. You don’t listen to a painting or taste the night sky. Or do you? A drummer has to “feel the beat” first before playing it. At AfterShokz, we choose to believe the future is more flexible on our senses. Soundtracks exist for a reason; music can change the meaning of sight. The question of how we take in sensory experiences might be more complicated than you think.
Take Turkish artist, Esref Armagan, for instance. He’s an accomplished painter who’s never seen his finished work. Armagan has been blind since birth, but paints successfully. Most notably, he was the first non-employee to be invited to Volvo Car Corporation in Sweden back in 2009 to paint the still-secret and new (at the time) 2011 Volvo S60. The result: a brief documentary film, Volvo S60 Blind Preview, and a painting that was sold on eBay with proceeds going to the World Blind Union.
In the absence of sight, Armagan relies on touch to create visuals. You’ll see him feel the entire car, feel the outline on the page, and even feel the paint he is using to create his vision. Perhaps this is only the beginning of a longer conversation.
Next time you put on a pair of AfterShokz bone conduction headphones, close your eyes and listen. Do you see anything? Do you see nothing? Maybe, in the mind’s eye, images will flood your vision. When you hear that special song, the one you haven’t heard since you were very little, doesn’t it return you to those forgotten moments? It’s almost as if you can see them. Keep listening. Now open your eyes and look around, wherever you are. What you are seeing is different because there is music to give it special meaning. It would seem that the senses actually have quite a lot to do with one another. Changing your perception is what innovation is all about.
How do you interpret art? By sound? By touch? By sight? By smell? By taste? Let us know by commenting below or on Facebook and Twitter.
