Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
electrical appliances are easily installed. In contrast, it is difficult to equip the
bathroom to become a computing environment because the sharp changes in temper-
ature and humidity that occur there make installation of equipment difficult. Despite
this difficulty, however, a Japanese bathroom may have a variety of electronic equip-
ment such as a heater/dryer unit in the ceiling, an external water heater, equipment
for remotely controlling bathroom temperature, water temperature, and water quan-
tity, and a speakerphone between the bathroom and the kitchen. Further, we are
beginning to see other value-added amenities and equipment such as TV and audio
systems, lights with dimmers, Jacuzzis, and mist generators in bathrooms. Thus, the
bathroom can now be viewed as another space to bring various ubiquitous computing
technologies and to enhance the everyday act of bathing so that it is more entertaining
even though the equipment may depend on the Japanese bathing culture and the style
of the home.
This chapter discusses a number of systems in terms of their entertainment and
practical applications for the Japanese-style bathroom that are controlled via various
embedded sensors. The first system discussed is Bathonify (Hirai et al.
2004
), an
interactive sonification system that reflects a bather's actions and vital signs while
in the bathtub using an external water heater and embedded ECG sensors in the
bathtub. It uses sonified sounds and music to create an amenity space in the bath-
room that bathers can enjoy and other family members in the home can utilize to
listen and monitor the bather's state, actions, and vital signs in real time. The next
system discussed is TubTouch (Sakakibara et al.
2013
; Hirai et al.
2013
), which
uses embedded capacitive touch sensors to convert the edge of the bathtub into a
user interface. TubTouch can operate various types of bathroom equipment and also
enables all age groups, from children to elderly people, to have access to a variety
of entertaining applications while bathing. The final system discussed is Bathcratch
(Hirai et al.
2012
), which utilizes an embedded piezo sensor to enable bathers to
play a DJ scratching music entertainment system by rubbing the edge of the bath-
tub. Works related to these three systems, their practicability as regards bathroom
facilities, common grounds of all the systems, interactivity of each system, and
improvements brought to Quality of Life (QoL) are subsequently discussed.
6.2
Bathonify: Sonification System to Reflect Bather's Motion
and Vital Signs
6.2.1
Concept Underlying Bathonify
The goal of Bathonify (Hirai et al.
2004
) is to create an amenity space that is both
unobtrusive and enjoyable, and which can thus facilitate novel bath systems based
on ubiquitous computing. The idea is to use bathwater as a natural ambient medium
and express the state of the water through sound. The Bathonify system sonifies the
changes in water level and ripples on the surface of the water as interactive sounds
