This device is either a box that has a video and audio input and a video and audio output that goes between a VCR/DVD player and a TV, or a function built into a DVD player. The bottom few inches of the image are cropped, and in their place a visualization of the audio is displayed.

This visualization will be similar to those provided by software MP3 players (such as WinAmp). For simplicity, let's say for every 1/20 of a second a color bar is added to the right side of the screen, it's height being the amplitude of the past 1/20 second of sound and it's color being the average tone of this sample. In the next 1/20 of a second, another bar is added, shifting the first bar to the left. Repeat.

Closed-captioning can be placed over this visualization, for minimal loss of resolution, or placed under closed captioning.

The point of this device is to allow a deaf person to view the auditory experiences of a movie, such as a scream in a horror movie or the pace of music in a chase scene.

Thank you [FloridaManatee] for the inspiration for this idea.
-- Worldgineer, May 27 2003

Speaker Pillow for the Deaf http://www.halfbake..._20for_20the_20Deaf
The inspiration for this idea [Worldgineer, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

A Visualization http://lightning.pr.../cgi-bin/winamp.gif
To give you some idea of what I'm talking about [Worldgineer, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

This makes me think of mimed commentary on the action, but in the vein of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

(sarcastic) "Ooh yeah, this is really suspenseful now."

"Yeah, what a dork."

but mimed.
-- snarfyguy, May 27 2003


The link is a visualization of a visualization.
-- waugsqueke, May 27 2003


Couldn't you make brightness or contrast or colour intensity somehow controlled by the sound level? Some directors do this already to heighten the emotional impact of certain scenes in their work, using post-production film-treatment techniques.

I know that photochromatic sunglasses are already baked, but how about auralchromatic sunglasses? Sunglasses that get lighter according to the intensity of the sound that surrounds them? Admittedly, it would make the bulk of the movie kind of murky, but the volume highlights would be easier to pick out.
-- lostdog, May 27 2003


Not a bad idea - inaudible, but palpable cues of auditory tension.
-- thumbwax, May 27 2003



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