How Can Tactile Sound Enhance My Home Theater?
Creating a Home Theater for the Senses
There’s no use arguing the point: home theater is all about the senses! Your high definition screen isn’t just a display… it’s one big feast for the eyes. Think about your surround sound audio: you wouldn’t have invested in those speakers if they weren’t going to keep your ears entertained for hours at a time! And your senses of taste and smell just wouldn’t be tickled in quite the same way if you settled down for a movie without a bowl of popcorn and your favorite beverage.
But what about your sense of touch? Touch may be the last sense you think of catering to when you’re planning a home theater, but you don’t have to leave it out in the cold. Have you ever sat watching a movie and wished that your experience went beyond just seeing and hearing it? With the help of devices called tactile transducers, you’ll never just hear those depth charges detonate or see that stampede charging across the screen… you’ll be able to feel them as well!
What’s a tactile transducer?
A subwoofer is a type of loudspeaker that’s used to reproduce extremely low bass frequencies, typically those that fall into the 20 to 200Hz range. Ordinary subwoofers contain an acoustic membrane (known as a diaphragm or cone). Energy is passed into this membrane, causing it to vibrate and produce audible sound.
A tactile transducer can most easily be described as a subwoofer without a “cone”. Because tactile transducers lack that sound-producing diaphragm, the audio signals sent into them don’t result in audible bass frequencies, but instead manifest themselves as vibrations that can’t be detected by your ears, but can be picked up by your sense of touch.
So how does that apply to my home theater?
If you’re wondering exactly how tactile transducers can be worked into the grand scheme of your home theater, the answer is simple: you install them into the seating! Whether you like to sprawl on a couch or kick back in an armchair while watching your favorite films, chances are good that you can easily incorporate a tactile transducer to take your viewing experience to the next level. (Just avoid installing a tactile transducer into a recliner… the vibrations and reclining mechanisms generally don’t get along.)
Once a tactile transducer is firmly bolted to the underside of your chair or sofa, it brings movies to life by translating low frequencies from each film’s soundtrack into sound-and-picture-synchronized vibrations that you’ll be able to feel right through your furniture. The result? A complete cinematic escape… for two hours, you’ll be allowed to leave your world behind and live the on-screen action!