Imagine wearing a T-shirt that can track your breathing or gloves that turn your hand movements into digital commands.
That’s the future researchers at ETH Zurich are working toward with their new invention: SonoTextiles.
These smart fabrics use sound—rather than electricity—to measure touch, pressure, movement, and more.
Led by Professor Daniel Ahmed, the team has developed a lightweight, breathable fabric that integrates thin glass fibers.
These fibers act like tiny acoustic sensors. At one end of each fiber, a small transmitter sends out sound waves. At the other end, a receiver listens for changes in those waves.
When the fabric bends, stretches, or moves—like when someone breathes or shifts position—the sound waves change, and those changes can be detected and interpreted.
Unlike traditional smart textiles that rely on electronics and sensors, SonoTextiles use sound to collect information. That means they’re more precise, cheaper to produce, use less energy, and are easier to wash. They’re also more comfortable to wear.
Previous versions of smart clothing often ran into problems with too much data and complicated signal processing. But SonoTextiles solve that by giving each fiber its own frequency. That makes it easy to tell which part of the fabric is being moved or touched—without needing powerful computers to process the data.
The sound waves used are ultrasonic, meaning they’re too high-pitched for human ears to hear—about 100 kilohertz, far beyond the range of normal hearing.
When a person wearing the fabric breathes, moves, or shifts posture, the change in the glass fibers alters how the sound travels, allowing the system to detect even subtle physical actions.
The potential uses for this technology are wide-ranging. In healthcare, a smart shirt could monitor the breathing of someone with asthma and alert them—or their doctor—if something is wrong.
In sports, athletes could wear the fabric to track their movements and get instant feedback to improve their performance or prevent injuries. In accessibility, gloves made from SonoTextiles could help translate sign language into text or speech in real time.
The smart fabric could also improve posture by detecting slouching and giving the wearer feedback. For wheelchair users, it could alert them to shift positions and help prevent pressure sores.
Right now, the system works well in the lab. But there are still challenges before it can be used in everyday life.
The researchers are exploring whether the glass fibers could be replaced with more durable materials like metal. They also plan to improve how the electronics are built into the fabric to make it more practical for real-world use.
The study was published in Nature Electronics.
