Soft Speakers: Digital Embroidering of DIY Customizable Fabric Actuators
Sara Nabil, Lee Jones, Audrey Girouard
Abstract
We introduce Soft Speakers, a systematic approach for designing custom fabric actuators that can be used as audio speakers and vibro-haptic actuators. Digitally-embroidered with e-textiles, we implement Soft Speakers as tactile, malleable and aesthetic designs to be part of wearables, soft furnishing and fabric objects. We present a rapid technique for the DIY fabrication of audio feedback into soft interfaces. We also discuss and evaluate 7 factors for their parametric design in additive and constructive methods. To demonstrate the feasibility of our approach and the breadth of new designs that it enables, we developed 5 prototypes: 3 wearables, a piece of furniture and a soft toy. Studying Soft Speakers with maker-users expanded the design space, empowering users and supporting inclusive design. Our study includes insights on user experience of real-world interactive applications for remote communication, e-learning, entertainment, navigation and gaming, enabled by Soft Speakers’ customizable and scalable form factor.