Watashi-chan is clothing that makes it possible to see invisible sounds in a space. Balloons are attached to the clothing, which inflate when there is a sound in the space.
If there is any sound at all in the space, even if the person wearing Watashi-chan does not hear it, the balloons attached to the clothing inflate. In other words, I can visually recognize what kind of sound exists around you, if you are wearing Watashi-chan.
"I" means'bneself" in Japanese/'chan" is added to a noun to represent a person, and it is a word used for a friendly feeling and calling a person. So Watashi-chan recognizes the sound that you do not con sciously perceive, do not recognize, and it tells you, instead of you tellingyourself. It is like having anoth er sense organ.Therefore, I call it Watashi-chan, meaning another oneself. I want to understand how many different sounds and noises exist around me and what kind of tunes there are in the sound at this very moment. I think listeningtothe sounds means hearing the voice of our heart.
I would like to have people realize that listening to sounds is proof of living life. Listening to sounds should be like eating and sleeping, a part of everyday life. A lot of experiences are nourishing, which is very important for people.
Watashi-chan divides the human audio range into six frequency bands and calculates the quantity and fre quency of signals entering each frequency band. An electromagnetic valve is assigned to each frequency band. As a q uantity of fre quency signals is calculat-ed, a signal is sent to an electromagnetic valve to open it. As a result, air is sent to a balloon corre sponding to the quantity of frequency signals. After a balloon has been inflated for one second, air is released again, so that the balloon does not inflate too much.

Tomoko Ueyama (JP), born 1972, B.A. Osaka University of Arts (Performing Arts, 1995). Television Sound Effects Operator (1995 – 1998 NHK Osaka). Diploma, International Academy of Media Arts and Sciences (Arts and Media Lab, 2000).