如厕声音太尴尬?日本用森林之声来掩盖
去别人家做客时借用卫生间,在里面answer the call of the nature的时候,又担心声音太响,很尴尬?不用担心,日本已经发明出完美的遮音工具“声音装饰家”,这种设备可以在你如厕的时候发出大森林的美妙声音,不仅可以完全遮盖掉你的小便声,还能让你感到放松。 Japan is known as the most polite nation on Earth, and that extreme politeness extends to all aspects of life, including bathroom etiquette. Many public toilets feature a wall-mounted device that, when pressed, creates a sound that masks that of urination. However, electronics company Roland has come up with an improved version that drowns out embarrassing bathroom noises completely. Before the technology boom of the 1980s, toilet users would either flush the toilet or turn on a sink to mask the sounds they made when relieving themselves. However, as this was a needless waste of water, a more eco-friendly solution was sought, and thus the concept of the toilet sound generator was born. The most famous of the resulting devices, developed and manufactured by toilet brand Toto, is the Otohime (literal translation – “sound princess”). These devices resolved the water waste issue but only partially efficient in making people comfortable in the toilet, because the sound they generated didn’t do a perfect job of masking the embarassing noises. Luckily, a better solution is now available to them. Japanese homeware brand Lixil has partnered with instrument maker Roland to address the sensitive issue of bathroom noises. They’ve created a new device called the “Sound Decorator”, which, unlike current solutions that only try to mask noises by emitting another sound, generates a pattern that makes the original sound less audible altogether. They achieved this by engineering a sound with a similar but stronger wavelength to that of urination, and, through what is known as the “auditory masking” effect, they were able to neutralize the weaker wavelengths and thus cancel out the unwanted noise. When the device is activated, it evokes a serene forest, with a babbling brook and the chirping of songbirds. As Lixil’s press release says, “We brought the equipment up to the mountains and recorded many samples such as wild bird’s chirping. You can taste relaxation with the sound that makes the image of the forest.” Lixil began selling their “Sound Decorator” systems from February 1st, but the devices are only available in Japan. There are two versions available, one that is activated by a motion sensor when the user waves their hand close to the panel, and the other which automatically generates the sound when someone approaches the toilet. The hand operated version costs 21,800 Yen, and the automatic version costs 32,800 Yen. There is no word yet on whether the technology will expand to include the infinitely more embarrassing noises produced by gas and defecation. |