Most of the time, we are very familiar with physical buttons in this world, whether it is meant for the remote control, on the vehicle’s dashboard console, or perhaps even on the handset itself – although physical buttons on a smartphone has slowly but surely started to disappear – leaving only the volume controls as well as power button, as virtual buttons have already taken over in many examples. Disney Research Labs have come up with this interesting new button that will be powered by soundwaves, where it is being dubbed as “Acoustruments” as you can see in the video above.
Basically, through the manipulation of soundwaves that are emitted by your smartphone’s speaker, one would be able to come up with buttons, knobs, or sliders, among others, which will be able to interact with your device without the need for any kind of power source or wired connection.
An app will need to be launched that will emit a tone via your handset’s speaker, and whenever you push a button or twist a knob, the “acoustrument” will modify the tone in the same manner as that of your finger changes the tone of a flute whenever it moves to block a hole. Should you push the button, the air pathway will change, resulting in a change of the tone, too. In this manner, your handset’s microphone will be able to detect the tone change and react accordingly. Interesting, no?
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