RUSSO: That's what we think...since making this announcement we've heard of some other similar things that have taken place...but yeah, I think this is the first accessible concert for the deaf and hard of hearing...that's what I would say. There are certainly deaf accessible nights in clubs..but what we're doing is really giving the full range of music to deaf and hard of hearing listeners using some special technology to do that. So I'm confident that this is the first time that the deaf and hard of hearing are getting access to more than just the rhythm in a concert setting.

MAYNES: As I understand, this involves something that you guys call the Emoti-Chair. Could you describe what that's like? What exactly is it?

RUSSO: So the chair – we've got a few versions of it. The one that looks the best, the one that I call 'the Science Chair' ...It's not to look at...We've basically taken a camping chair and hacked it apart...and we've got a fancier lounger that's installed here at the Science Center. But the one that really works looks awful...

So it's an emerging technology and it relies on off the shelf parts at this point. And basically what we're doing is taking sound input and doing what's called a Fourier Transformation on the sound. So basically breaking the sound into its frequency components.

So we have different bands of frequency that are getting redirected to vibrational transducers that are embedded within a chair. So by doing this what we can do is present the higher frequencies to a region of the back up near the top. And we can present the lower frequencies to a region of the back down near the bottom. So by separating out the different source of the vibration ..you can feel the entire spectrum at any one time.

If we didn't separate out of the vibration, what would happen is that your perceptual system would experience what's called masking - so basically the lower frequency would mask out all the energy in the higher frequencies....

MAYNES: I see, so it's a kind of a stereo vibratory experience?

RUSSO: Yeah...it's a spatialized kind of audio, the one that stereo is...But what we're spatilaizing is the frequency spectrum rather than the position of the musicians that are on stage at any given time.

So that's the core of the technology and we're working on refining the mapping of sound to vibration so that it's intuitive. And so that hard of hearing people get an experience that's comparable to the experience of a hearing listener listening to the same piece of music.

MAYNES ..And tell me about the club and were this will happen. You have a bunch of bands on the bill as I understand.

RUSSO: Yes...so the club is in downtown Toronto. Th bands are playing conventional instruments and there will be sound amplification....So the hearing audience will hear the music. They'll also have opportunities to sit on these chairs and feel the music and see the music at the same time.

We have at this point six acts..and it's a range of music: We have the Dufraines who are folk indie band..they're starting the night off. We have Fox Jaws, which is a country rock act. Tree Star which is another rock act. Hollywood Swank, which is a punk act. DJ Stephan Vera. He is a composer ...and he does techno inspired composition, I would say. And our headliner is 'Ill Gates' who is a rapper.

So there's a quite a range and that's what we want. We want to basically provide access to types of music that many people haven't experienced before in the deaf and hard of hearing community.

MAYNES: ...I'm curious. When a band plays...you said they'll obviously be playing live through amplifiers, etc. so the hearing audience can listen as well....Are they actually plugged into the chair as well?

Yeah..they're plugged in!

So they way it works at the concert is that we don't actually take the quarter inch jack of the guitar chord and plug in ito the chair. We don't have a panel of inputs on the chair.

But everything will be processed through the sound board and the sound board in turn will output to a series of amplifiers that in the chair. And the amplifiers in turn drive these what are called 'voice coils' – so these are the actual vibration transducers -- which are very much like a speaker. Like a speaker without the paper cone.

MAYNES: Wow..And how many chairs at the show?

RUSSO: Six. So we definitely don't have enough. We're going to try and keep people moving....and not sitting in the chair for any longer than one song.

MAYNES: And what kind of club is this? A big place ? a little dive bar?

RUSSO: It's not big enough...It's going to hold a maximum of 300 people. If we had known about the level of attention this announcement would have made we would have booked a bigger venue. So we're already thinking about the next event.

MAYNES: I'm not sure this is a fair question, but you've obviously used this chair....has this expanded your understanding of pieces of music in a way you can describe? In a way that's palpable to a stranger?

RUSSO: You know I wouldn't say it's expanded my knowledge of any piece of music, but it's altered my experience of music. I've felt far more immersed in music sitting in his chair than I have listening to a piece of music. It's really hard for me to compare any two music experiences....there's so much subjectivity....there's a context of who you're with, and what's happened during the day ...

But generally speaking, I think we tend to think about music as being primarily an auditory medium. We've had recorded music for about a hundred years now. And increasingly we think of the sound product as kind of a commodity that can be moved around. But I think the natural state of music is far more organic....and if you look at the natural state of music making , there is a visual component and there is a vibratory component. We are reconnecting those elements.

Music is more than just sound. And there have been lots of very convincing experiments that people can make sense of visual information alone, vibratory information alone. And when you bring these things together, you clarify the intentionality of the song.

MAYNES: And what has been the response from the deaf community?

RUSSO: It's been positive. We've had lot of direct communication with people asking about the event – how can I get tickets and things like that. The proceeds of whatever profit we make on the night are going to donated the Deaf Cultural Center here in Toronto so they're interested and excited about the event.

I haven't heard any negative reaction but I suspect it may be out there. We're sort of waiting for it. I haven't encountered it yet.

MAYNES: Why do you think it might be?

RUSSO: Well, there have been many attempts by science – and medical science in particular -- to «normalize» the deaf and hearing community. And I think it's the approach that's been offensive historically...

So, as an example. Alexander Graham Bell. He was convinced that he could train deaf people to understand language. His thinking was that something had gone wrong over the course of their development and, through intensive training, he could normalize them. So this is an offensive notion to many in the deaf community.

More recently, as recently as 50 years ago in a North American context at least...I'm not sure what it's like in Europe or Russia.... the deaf and hard of hearing would have been treated as having some sort of cognitive impairment. So again that's an offensive sort of notion.

So there have been an attempt -- many attempts -- to «normalize» the deaf community. And the deaf community likes to think of itself as a thriving culture that doesn't need what the hearing community has to offer. They don't need to be normalized.

So our approach – for what it's worth – is that we hope to provide access. We're not trying to impose this, we don't think they need it . But we're interested in providing access..to this very interesting form of cultural communication. We know many people in the deaf and hard of hearing community are tuning into music anyway...we want to basically enhance that experience.

MAYNES: Are you finding that there are forms of music that the deaf community flat out doesn't like? I mean for people that have come to the laboratory ...

RUSSO: You know a lot of musical taste is based on experience. And with respect to the deaf and hard of hearing, the music that they tend to consume is weighted heavily in the bass frequencies....So they tend to like techno. I know when I was a kid I went to a school that had deaf children there and heavy metal was big at that time. So I think it's the bass lines and the rhythm that they can hear..

So it may take a while to get there tastes to switchover to, say, bluegrass.. or something that's more heavily weighted in the higher frequencies....

MAYNES: (laughs) I don't think that's just in the non-hearing community though...

RUSSO: (Laughs) Well, alright then....

MAYNES: Last question – what's the cover charge?

RUSSO: 5 bucks. And, again, the proceeds are going to the Deaf Cultural Center in Toronto. And we are giving hearing protection to folks that need it. Because it is going to be extremely loud. So that even if you're not seated in the chair, you can experience music in the conventional way – trough the floor and through the table.

MAYNES: Well, sounds fun. Good luck with it.

RUSSO: Thanks. Bye.