Who Wants This White Elephant? Yuri Suzuki's White Noise Machine

Japanese designer Yuri Suzuki enjoys playing with sound, and his White Noise Machine, now on display at a gallery in India is just his latest example.  It's a pretty big White Noise Machine, but you can have it for free, if you don't mind the noise and you're willing to pay the freight from India.

No, the white noise is not soothing like rain, swelling like the waves, or sweet like bird tweets; it's hoarse and broken like the sound of ten buzz-saws.  Not exactly pleasant, but maybe you could get used to it.  Even though this contraption is a white elephant, as a conversation piece it's so interesting.

You see, Suzuki's White Noise Machine is a smart machine.  It picks up the sounds from its environment and a few seconds later echos them back in its own voice, which I have already described.  If it doesn't "hear" anything, it doesn't repeat anything, so the new owner should keep pretty quiet around this "monkey do," unless he wants to be blasted into the next city.

Maybe that's why the curator of the exhibition wants to get rid of it.

You can hear Suzuki's White Noise Machine in all its glory in the following video.  The video is more than 5 minutes long, but you'll get the idea after a few minutes... if you can stand it that long.

Suzuki is co-designer of the brilliant Breakfast Machine.

YuriSuziki.com via designboom.