Ferroflow — An interactive electro-mechanical display that visualises sound

Interaction Design, Electromechanical Engineering

Ferroflow is a kinetic gizmo that uses mechanical engineering, electronic engineering, signal processing, to physically map sound within two-dimensional space. As a result, Ferroflow facilitates the material visualisation of sound, allowing viewers to identify the nuances of music and language.

The inspiration of the gizmo was to shed light on the nuance of speech by materialising audio and visualising the profound strength that language can have on people. It was developed through experimentation with magnetic media and audio processing techniques. A Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) program was used to process the audio into eight different frequency bands. The FFT program was first tested by mapping the frequency bands to the intensity of LEDs and then to the rotation of a linear actuator. After the ferrofluid display and electro-mechanical audio processing was developed, they were combined into single casing that also housed the microphone, electronics, and power supply.
Year
2019
Exhibitions
Imperial Dyson Open House (2019)
Disicplines
Interaction Design
Electromechanical Engineering