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‘Soundwave’ tattoos you can listen to

A Los Angeles-based company has created tattoos that users can listen to through their smartphones

The soundwave tattoos might look like any other piece of tangible art.
The soundwave tattoos might look like any other piece of tangible art.

Tattoos are meant to catch the eye. But what if your tattoo came to life in such a way that you could actually listen to it?

Los Angeles-based Skin Motion, a mobile application and artist platform network for augmented reality tattoos, has created “soundwave tattoos" which let you do exactly that.

Users need to upload or record the audio they want printed to the Skin Motion website or app, respectively. Skin Motion then generates the “soundwave". Once the tattoo is done, a photo of it is uploaded to the Skin Motion platform, which processes the audio and adds it to the app. Users then just need to start the app and point the phone’s camera at the tattoo. The app analyses the shape of the waveform and plays back the audio. Essentially, it’s the same principle as scanning a QR code.

Skin Motion’s YouTube channel already has some test videos of people getting inked with waveforms that carry their baby’s cackle or a pet’s howling, for instance. The app, still in development, is scheduled for release later this month.

Skin Motion has created a network of tattoo artists around the world who can do such tattoos.

While it has kept a 1-minute limit to the audio that can be inked on a person’s skin, the best soundwaves, according to the website, are the ones that are 5-20 seconds long. The website does not carry details on the pricing, or the platform where it will be launched, but mentions that “the cost of the tattoo is separate from the cost of the use of the app to play your ‘soundwave tattoo’".

The soundwave tattoos might look like any other piece of tangible art, but they are set to be an exciting fusion of body art and augmented reality.

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