Buzz is the first wearable wristband to translate sound into touch. By turning noise into vibrational patterns felt on the skin, Buzz can increase your awareness of the world around you and offer a new sensory experience.
While Buzz is designed for anyone interested in a new sensory experience, we’ve received an overwhelming response from our friends in the Deaf and hard-of-hearing communities.
If you’re curious how Buzz can fit into your life, read about our users’ experiences in their own words.
Friends and family
With over 29,000 unique patterns of vibrations, Buzz lets people connect with their loved ones in a new way. Buzz users become more aware of their partners or children calling their names, and they recognize emotion and tones of voice:
“The sound that is the most vital to me is my baby crying or screeching. That was so helpful for me to get the Buzz alert and know that was my baby and go and check on her.” – Isaac W.
“My partner is emotional, I can feel her voice and the emotions in the voice.” – Sylas U.
“When someone was saying my name to get my attention I was able to recognize the rhythmic vibration and knew someone was calling my name.” – Isaac W.
“I asked [my wife] to call my name – ‘Jan’ – and Buzz was right on it. I was able to identify that it was my name. I felt it perfectly on Buzz. – Jan E.
Out in the world
Buzz’s Everyday Mode is ideal for daily environments. This mode adapts to your surroundings and cancels out unnecessary background noise so you can focus on what matters.
While driving or walking on the street, Buzz users can feel the sounds of vehicles, sirens, and other important sounds:
“It helps me a lot when I’m outside. If there is a siren, police car, or whatever. I can be aware and look around me.” – Phillip S.
“It prevents me from leaving on the turn signal in a car. Sometimes I leave it on for a long time and that’s embarrassing.” – ReVae J.
Users also stay aware of their co-workers and work environment:
“When I’m at work delivering packages and driving my route I scan the packages. The machine beeps when it is done scanning and Buzz alerted me to that. That isn’t something I could ever have heard, but the “beep-beep” I felt it!” – Jan E.
Having fun
Music Mode brings a new experience to music. Whether listening to a recording or watching a live performance, you can tell the difference between vocals and instruments. It’s not hard to learn to recognize songs just through their feel:
“Music mode encapsulated everything, the overlapping layers and tones.” – Sylas U.
“You know I love dancing? I love having Buzz so I can feel the rhythm, so I can stay in time. Using Buzz is so great. I don’t have to worry about touching the speakers to feel the vibration to know what song it is.” – Phillip S.
“I DJed using the Buzz, it was fun! I was able to connect with the music I was playing on a new level.” – Bobby C.
“Able to experience music enough to dance again!” –Torrey S.
People enjoy watching movies while wearing Buzz. It helps them tell the difference between voices without relying on captioning devices and also to experience sound effects at a new level:
“Sometimes the captioning device doesn’t work, and the captions disappear. But Buzz was working the whole time. I could feel the sounds and see it corresponding with the actors speaking.” – Isaac W.
At home
Whether you’re cooking, doing chores or catching some zzz’s, Buzz allows you to experience sound in a new way.
Buzz users become aware of sounds in the kitchen that they may have missed:
“I noticed yesterday when I was trying to boil water – which I can’t hear – and the wristband was vibrating lots. And I asked my partner, and he said yes, it was boiling. That’s really cool!” – Angela P.
They feel the beeps from microwaves and other machines in their home:
“One prime example was my toaster oven. It has an alert “beep” when it’s done, but it is a very high pitched sound, and because of that, my hearing aid wasn’t able to detect the “beep.” But Buzz would alert me to the sound.” – Sharif R.
When moving through their home, users can gain awareness of doors opening and closing, and even the sound of footsteps:
“I happened to be walking through the house, my house has very creaky floors, and I was trying to be quiet, so I was stepping carefully. Buzz would alert me to any noise I was making, and I would right my path.” – Isaac W.
Users also feel safer at night knowing that Buzz’s Sleeping Mode will wake them up in case of an alarm or other emergency sound:
“The safety feature of being able to hear an alarm – that alone makes me keep on the wristband.” – Sylas U.
How else do you use your Buzz? Let us know on our Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram page.
By Léa Bourgade, Marketing and Communications