DISNEY FINGERS

Disney researchers have developed a microphone that lets a user record a voice message and then relay that message to another person simply by touching them with a finger.

The system uses a Shure Super 55 microphone connected to a computer's sound card. The microphone records as soon as it hears a sound over a certain threshold. The computer then creates a loop with the recording which is sent to an amplification driver. When that person then touches another person's ear, the electrostatic field creates a small vibration of the earlobe which, in turn, leads to the ear and the finger behaving like a speaker. Their ear canal acts as a sort of speaker, allowing them to listen to a secret finger-transmitted message. The sound can't be heard by anyone else but the person being touched.

The prototype is called Ishin-Den-Shin after the Japanese concept of interpersonal communication through unspoken mutual understanding, inadequately encapsulated by English words like sympathy or telepathy.