Vollebak creates speaker-covered jacket to "change people's brain state"

Experimental clothing brand Vollebak has created the prototype Sonic Jacket, which is fitted with 180 inward-facing speakers.

Vollebak created the jacket to change how people feel by sending sound waves through the body.

"I am utterly convinced that you can change people's brain state and body state by firing sounds and frequency through them," Vollebak co-founder Nick Tidball told Dezeen.

"I've been looking at this concept for ages, simply looking at the fact the earth resonates at a frequency, my cat purrs at a frequency," Tidball continued.

"The idea that we are solid humans is simply not true. We're made up of particles, and in those spaces, that's where the sound and frequency can travel through you. And that's what we focused on."

Speaker-covered coat — The speakers face inward to play sound waves into the body

Created in collaboration with special effects studio FBFX – known for sci-fi films like Dune, Prometheus and Project Hail Mary – the jacket is covered in 180 speakers that face inwards.

Each of the 32-millimetre-wide speakers was mounted in a laser-cut hole and generates frequencies that range from four hertz (Hz) to 20 kilohertz (kHz).

The speakers are controlled by an MP3 player loaded with 10 pre-set frequencies, while a Micro SD card reader allows additional frequencies to be played.

Coat covered in speakers and wires — The jacket is a prototype

According to Vollebak, the speakers turn the body into a resonant chamber, with different frequencies affecting people in different ways.

"The idea of being able to fire sound and frequency through you is an incredibly serious idea, and having already tested it on myself, it is completely viable," said Tidball.

"It changed the way my brain and body felt and worked," he continued. "I think the sound and frequency will do different things to different people

"In the same way we all like different music and different types of food, I would imagine frequency and sound travelling through your body is the same."

Speakers wired up to a jacket by Vollebak — The jacket was designed to change how people feel

The current jacket is a prototype, which has only been tested on a handful of people. However, Tidball reports that it had a positive impact on him.

"In testing, the impacts of wearing the jacket were kind of astonishing," he said.

"The impacts initially – and I did a half an hour test on myself – was that it put me, at some frequencies, into a bizarrely meditative state, and almost a state where everything else disappeared, other than listening or feeling this frequency through me," he continued.

"The positive impact, for me, personally, was just how utterly amazing I felt – it made me high, but also meditative at the same time."

Speaker-covered jacket by Vollebak — The speakers can play various different frequencies

Vollebak believes its prototype is the first step in the creation of sound therapy jackets, with the brand aiming to make a commercially viable product by 2027.

"We believe that this is a 20-, 30-, 40-year-long project, and this is just day one of it," said Tidball.

"When they made a suit of armour – that was a wild piece of clothing. When they made the first suit for astronauts – that was a wild piece of clothing," he continued. "I would argue that we're onto something like that, and I think it will create some fundamental shifts in how we perceive what clothing can do."