WHITEFISH, MT / ACCESSWIRE / December 19, 2014 / The unmistakable oscillation of a V8 engine, the thump of a parent's car door that sends teenagers scrambling from headphones to homework or the shuddering yoke of an airplane in distress, the power of a touch, even a tiny vibration, to thrill and communicate vital information is limitless. Alexander Graham Bell understood this when he gave balloons to deaf children playing in the streets of the 1800's. Holding them close, the balloons amplified the vibrations of oncoming carriages, alerting the children and saving lives. Today a palpable stampede of innovative companies are mining the vast potential of this tactile communication, harnessing force, vibration and motion and delivering it to users in increasingly entertaining and important ways in a fast moving field known as haptic or haptic-tactile technology, "the technology of touch or feeling."
Most of us are familiar with the simple vibrate function of our cell phones, or Rumble Packs developed by Nintendo (OTC: NTDOY), the force feedback components of game controllers that transmit the feel of firing and other gaming sensations to the hands. This feel of the wheel has been present in arcade games since the 70's with numerous practical applications as well, like "stick shakers" in large aircraft that alert pilots to hazardous flight conditions, or force feedback sensors in excavators allowing operators to detect unseen boulders and other obstacles. Low frequency audio transducers developed by The Guitammer Company (OTC: GTMM), as part of their Buttkicker(R) brand pro audio line, transmit the silent vibration of the low end to bass players and drummers, allowing them to play in perfect time without turning up the stage monitors so loud that they overpower the rest of the band.
Even the vibrate function on your phone is part of a much broader industry surrounding what is called the "haptic interface", the subject of fierce competition and patents in the world of consumer electronics. This interface pertains to a wide range of functions: how virtual buttons push back with specific vibrations or resistance, communicating to us that we have communicated with them; nuancing tactile alerts to provide more information; or attributing functions to the motion of the device itself within the user's environment, a downward sweep turning off a light from across the room. These endless possibilities are the focus of companies like Immersion Corporation (NASDAQ: IMMR), a haptic technology developer who touts over 700 patents in the field. Nokia (NYSE: NOK) has gone so far as to patent a vibrating tattoo, more like a picturesque skin graft with a magnetic field, that interacts with a phone or other device and may very well be the most extreme example of tactile tech to date.
There is an established synergy between the entertainment industry and this technology that could be of particular interest to investors. A good example is The Guitammer Company (OTC: GTMM), the aforementioned makers of ButtKicker brand low frequency transducers, who have bridged the gap from rock n' roll to virtual reality and immersive entertainment and are already transforming the way we experience sports, cinema, gaming and broadcasting in general.
According to their website, the same transducers used by over a hundred big-name artists like the Rolling Stones, Shania Twain and others, are also installed in 9,000 "4D" cinema seats in 11 countries, delivering a range of subtle to bone-rattling effects in concert with the on-screen action and cutting edge sound systems. They also offer home versions that attach to your existing furniture and even to an office chair for PC gaming.
A growing hardware footprint puts the company on solid ground, but what really places Guitammer at the nexus of touch technology is their patented broadcast technology "4D Sports powered by ButtKicker," that enables tactile information, "the excitement, impact and feeling" of an event, to be broadcast along with the sound and video, translating the actual feel and impact of live sports to remote devices like their low frequency transducers and the viewer. Initial forays have been partnerships with big-money sports like the National Hot Rod Association in 2013 where viewers experienced the G's and rumble of real-time racing via sensors inside and outside the cars, and this year's partnership with Comcast and the San Jose Sharks, who are using similar sensors to broadcast the hard-hitting feel of professional hockey during the 2014-2015 season.
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It is easy to imagine how this technology could spread beyond sports and mean big opportunities for the company as its patented info stream, and haptic-tactile technology as a whole, becomes an integral, even expected, element of mainstream media, advertising, mobile devices and life, with companies lining up to license and develop new technology for use with Guitammer's broadcast technology.
One thing is certain, the technology of touch is here to stay, redefining how we experience our devices and media in big ways and transforming our senses. There is no reason to believe we won't become every bit as accustomed to haptic-tactile input as we have to the technologies of sight and sound, and sometime in the not too distant future find ourselves sleeping like babies, bed frames pulsing with every beat of Edgar Allan Poe's "Telltale Heart", as our partner catches a late night episode of Masterpiece Theater and our tech stocks go bump in the night.
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SOURCE: Emerging Growth LLC