Syrinx is an artificial larynx that mimics the wearer's former voice

Japanese engineer Takeuchi Masaki has developed a wearable voice box called Syrinx, which can be strapped on like a neck brace so that people who have lost their larynx to cancer are able to produce speech.

The device is intended to revolutionise the design of a traditional electrolarynx, which resembles a small flashlight that has to be held up to the throat. The project was named Japan's national winner of this year's James Dyson Award.

Modelled on the way that vocal cords are vibrated through air from the lungs to generate sound, an electrolarynx manually vibrates the neck to create a noise that the user can then form into words using their mouth and tongue.

Syrinx is a wearable, AI-powered electrolarynx

However, through a series of interviews with patients who have undergone a laryngectomee – or surgical removal of their voice box – Masaki found that the design for a traditional electrolarynx left much to be desired and "has not changed for 20 years".

Users complained about the fact that it was impossible to use during essential, two-handed tasks such as driving, eating or typing, while the actual voice it generates sounds unnatural and mechanical.

"Many people said: 'I want to speak in the same voice as a healthy person'," Masaki told Dezeen.

"When used in public, the conventional electrolarynx stands out because of its robot-like sound, and people didn't want to use it except in an emergency."

Syrinx is intended to improve on this by making the device wearable, as well as changing the vibrational patterns applied to the throat.

While a normal electrolarynx has only one vibrator tha generates simple, uniform waves and a consequently monotone voice, Masaki's device is equipped with two vibrators so it can generate a broader range of frequencies.

The device features two vibrators, one on each side of the throat

In addition, the vibrational patterns are personalised for each user, based on recordings of their own, former voice.

This is possible by running these recordings through an artificial intelligence tool for audio signal processing known as linear predictive coding (LPC), which can analyse how a sound is created.

"It isolates the frequency characteristics of the mouth and tongue from the user's past voice," Masaki said.

"This allows us to obtain a user-specific vibration sound that can add personality to the voice created by the electrolarynx and help people speak in something more closely resembling their own voice."

Although the team is currently still working on improving the algorithm behind the technology, Masaki has already received positive feedback from patients.

"With the latest prototype, people have said it looks cool and they can use both hands," said Masaki.

"I was very happy to receive the responses. However, there are still issues such as the noisy vibration sound and the need to adjust the position, so we will continue to develop it."

It can be strapped on like a neck brace

Another national winner of The James Dyson Award this year was the British startup The Tyre Collective, which has developed a wheel-mounted device that can capture microplastic emissions from tyres.

Every year, the awards also recognise an overall, international winner, which last year was Lucy Hughes and her MarinaTex bioplastic made from fish waste.

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Ultralight is a partition wall system by IOC Project Partners

Dezeen Showroom: Italian furniture company IOC Project Partners has developed Ultralight, a flexible partition wall solution for offices.

Designed by product engineer Krzysztof Miksza, the Ultralight system is available in glazed or solid versions, with hinged, sliding or telescopic doors.

Ultralight allows areas of an office to be partitioned off, in order to be transformed into a meeting room or a workspace.

Ultralight can be used to create meeting rooms

"It can be completely personalised and is perfectly matching prestigious, elegant offices," said IOC Project Partners.

"It's a tailor-made suit to meet all requirements for the organisation of spaces and the creation of private areas."

With minimal metal frames, Ultralight's demountable design allows for easy installation and layout flexibility in the long term.

Product: Ultralight
Brand: IOC Project Partners
Contact: n.mismara@ioc.it

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Kengo Kuma builds cross-laminated timber pavilion and park in Tokyo

Japanese architect Kengo Kuma used cross-laminated timber to build a temporary pocket park pavilion and exhibition space in Tokyo.

Called CLT Park Harumi, the complex is located on Harumi, a residential area built on an island of reclaimed land in the Japanese capital.

The main CLT pavilion holds a small park

Parallelogram-shaped fins of cross-laminated timber (CLT) form a four-sided pavilion that contains a small park with a lawn of artificial grass in the middle.

Digital screens, set in a diagonal shape in the middle of the lawn, play graphics that change in response to people walking across them.

Interactive screens are set in the artificial lawn

Panels of TEFKA, a plastic film made by Japanese chemical company Denka, form the transparent roof and side elements of the pavilion.

The plastic protects the occupants of the park from the elements without obstructing views of the wood, while gaps allow air to still flow through.

A staircase is swathed in stacks of CLT

Two events spaces flank the park pavilion, one featuring a staircase covered in a sweeping sculpture made from stacked planks of CLT.

It also has a reading room with books and wooden toys, as well as interactive games to play on screens.

All of the engineered timber was sourced from Japan

All of the CLT was sourced domestically from Maniwa, a city in Okayama Prefecture. CLT Park Harumi was commissioned by Mitsubishi Estate Group to display the versatility of Japanese CLT.

After a year, the pavilions are due to be dismantled and reassembled in Maniwa for future use.

Harumi is the location of the athletes' village for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The pavilion is designed to be taken apart and reassembled elsewhere

Kengo Kuma also designed the Japan National Stadium for the global event, with a lattice of timber as its defining feature.

Other recent projects by the Japanese architect to use wood include a restaurant on a hillside in Honshū with a roof of interlocking cypress planks and a chicken coop in Tulum, Mexico, made from a grid of wooden boards.

Photography is by Kobayashi Kenji.

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Project credits:

Architect: Kengo Kuma and Associates (KKAA)
Team: Ohba Shin, Sungyeon Won, Taiki Monaka, Niijima Kengo, Kudo Kohei, Mochizuki Yohei, Kamiya Yuzuru, Tokai Hisako、Yoo Shiho
Client: Mitsubishi Estate Group

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Mississippi votes to officially adopt In God We Trust flag

People in Mississippi have voted to replace the state's official flag, which incorporated the Confederate battle emblem, with a design that has a magnolia blossom in its centre.

Designed by Rocky Vaughan, with support from Sue Anna Joe, Kara Giles and Dominique Pugh, the new flag is called In God We Trust.

Flag chosen from 3,000 submissions

It replaces the state's previous flag, which was retired in June 2020 following increased pressure to remove Confederate symbols from official places after the death of African-American George Floyd in police custody.

Mississippi was the only US state that was still using the Confederate emblem in its flag, which had been in use since 1894, after Georgia removed the symbol from its flag in 2003.

Top: the new In God We Trust flag. Above: the previous state flag

The design was chosen from nearly 3,000 submissions made to The Commission to Redesign the Mississippi State Flag.

It contains a white magnolia blossom – Mississipi's state flower – at its centre, which recalls the state's original flag that was used between 1861–1865 and incorporated a magnolia tree.

The blossom is on a blue background and surrounded by 20 white stars that represent the fact Mississippi was the 20th state in the union along with one gold star to signify the state's indigenous peoples. Below the blossom are the words In God We Trust – the official motto of the United States of America.

This arrangement is on a blue background, which is flanked by a pair of gold bars and wider red bars.

According to website Quartz, the design incorporates elements from several designers.

Vaughan, who works as creative director of a screenprinting shop in Mississipi, was responsible for the broad layout; Joe, a web designer in San Francisco, the central arrangement; Pugh, a graphic designer, helped with the layout; while Giles, a member of the redesign committee, added the gold bars.

Design ratified in referendum

The design was selected by the nine members of the flag commission before being ratified by voters in a state referendum on 3 November held as part of the general election.

In the referendum, 71 per cent of people voted that the design should become the official Mississippi state flag.

The decision to redesign the flag after 126 years marks a changing attitude towards the Confederate battle emblem, as several previous attempts to change the state's flag had failed.

At a previous referendum held in 2002, 64 per cent of people voted to retain the existing flag. Another unsuccessful attempt was made to remove the Confederate symbol from the Mississippi state flag in 2015 after the racially motivated Charleston church shooting.

Image courtesy of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

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Den Cabin Kit is a DIY wooden guesthouse that can be built in a few days

Cabin-design company Den has launched a flat-packed, kit-of-parts for a steeply pitched cabin, known as an A-frame, that can be assembled in just a few days.

The 115-square-foot (10.68-square-metre) Den Cabin Kit has slanted wooden walls with a large triangular window. It is designed to be an ideal guest house, yoga studio or study.

Den Cabin Kit is intended to be assembled in remote places

Prefabricated in New York, the kit has pre-drilled holes and includes everything from the wooden structural parts that lock together, to bolts and even door hardware – details Den said make the project stand out from other flat-packed structures.

"Under the hood – or roof, ha – we have components that are cut with CNC precision, a design that slots together intuitively, and a kit so complete even the door hardware is included so you won't need to make any trips to the hardware store," the New York-based team told Dezeen.

"The cabin bolts and screws together and all the holes are pre-drilled making for fast assembly."

It has a large triangular window

Den Cabin Kit is designed to be built with minimal equipment including a ratchet set, a power drill, a ladder, step ladder and a staple gun. Flat-packed materials arrive stacked according to the order in which they are needed during the build, as part of an ambition to make construction as easy as possible.

"If you don't have any construction experience you can certainly make up for it with tenacity, and a few friends to help you with the job," Den explained.

The cabin can be used as a guesthouse

"Building something even as easy as this still requires some hutzpah mind you," the company added. "You need to be comfortable on a ladder a story off the ground to set the ridge cap and screw in the roofing panels, and you and your friends (or team) need to be careful with the large windows while setting them in place."

Den suggests novice builders employ a contractor to bolster the structure if it is being built on a sloped site, or in an area with harsher weather, and also to help set foundations – which it likens to the same basic requirements as a shed. The cabin is intended to touch the ground lightly so it can be disassembled and rebuilt elsewhere, and constructed without nails for the same reason.

There are three external cladding options, including corrugated metal

Despite its light touch, the team said the cabin is still robust and well-insulated in harsh weather conditions. "Even though it's 'semi-permanent' in this regard it's no less a building and can withstand the harshest elements, with four-season compatibility," it explained.

Owners can choose from three types of exterior cladding: either black Forest and silver Alpine metal or cedar shingles. They can also add a propane heater provided by Den.

Other similar self-build projects include The Backcountry Hut Company's conceptual proposal for tiny houses that users could assemble like IKEA furniture.

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