Road as Medium, Plays Back Music

Image: gigdoggy

Imagine driving past the beach and hearing the Coca-Cola jingle playing while you drive, (without your radio being on) - A Japanese engineer, Shizuo Shinoda, has come up with an idea to use the grooves in asphalt to play music.

The system works by cutting thousands of little grooves in the asphalt that produce a sound when a vehicle drives over them. The grooves are a few millimeters deep and 6 to 12 millimeters wide, and the closer you bring them together the higher the pitch will be when driven over. Production cost is about $20 000.

Mr Shinoda got the idea by driving his car over markings a bulldozer had previously scraped off a street and realized he was generating a series a tones.

The Japanese had dabbed at some security measures to keep drivers awake and alert - now with these musical roads they found their new toys. Already three streets in Japan have been “tuned” to play popular regional songs and famous tunes like the theme from “Alvin And The Chipmunks”. The streets are situated in Hokkaido, Wakayama and Gunma. One has been sponsored by Honda in Lancaster, California, one plays “Marry Had a Little Lamb” in Anyang South Korea, and yet another exists apparently somewhere in Holland.

The ones in Japan induce slow driving as the recommended speed to unleash the most accurate melody is 28mph.

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