The Japanese have figured out how to turn a regular audio system into a rag (4 photos)

No matter how hard we try, the future is coming.





In December 2025, the Japanese company Sensia Technology unveiled a truly revolutionary device. In short, it's a portable speaker made entirely of fabric. The invention looks and feels like a regular piece of material, but it can reproduce sound across its entire surface, creating a uniform and immersive sound without traditional rigid membranes or cones.



The technology is based on a 2018 development at Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology. The researchers integrated conductive fibers into the fabric, forming a structure similar to a flat capacitor with flexible electrodes and a thin dielectric. Sound is generated by electrostatic forces of attraction and repulsion, which cause the entire material to vibrate uniformly.

Unlike conventional speakers, where sound emanates from a single point, there is no directional source—the audio spreads across the entire fabric.





The device, called the Fabric Speaker Portable, connects via Bluetooth, and the control electronics are located in a small external unit. The fabric is minimally thick, lightweight, flexible, and portable: it can be rolled up, hung on the wall like a tapestry, placed under a pillow, or even worn as a piece of clothing. It's perfect for background music, relaxing before bed, or creating ambient sound in a room. Or as a whoopee cushion to give your coworker a heart attack.



While the company isn't revealing full frequency range or distortion specifications, it emphasizes that this gadget isn't designed for powerful bass, but rather an innovative way to integrate sound into everyday life—invisibly and naturally.

In the future, this technology could find application in smart fabrics, clothing, furniture, or interiors, where audio will be literally "woven" into the surroundings. The Japanese have decided to usher in a new era, one in which speakers cease to be separate boxes and become part of the fabric of reality.