Coke Studio's new season has something special to help the deaf "feel" music

KARACHI - In Coke Studio's ninth and upcoming season, Coca-Cola Pakistan on Saturday said it has plans to provide a unique musical experience to the deaf community in Pakistan.

Combining innovative technology with the platform’s philosophy of inclusivity, Coke Studio for the Deaf enables people with little or no hearing ability to get the basic experience of music.

Cock-studio for the Deaf hopes to help Pakistan’s hearing-impaired community experience music through lights and vibrations for the first time. Joining hands with Deaf Reach Schools and Training Centres, Coke Studio on Saturday launched the initiative that aims to help the nine million people in Pakistan with some form of hearing loss in hearing music for the first time.

At the heart of the unique studio-like set-up which helps hearing-impaired persons to feel and experience the music of Coke Studio, is a special sofa or couch embedded with hundreds of vibration engines and LED lights that are synced with the sound of the song being played.

A grand LED installation around the couch provides synchronized mood lighting to elevate the experience visually. Finally an LED screen in front of the sofa displays the video playback, while the studio is propped with guitars on stands, a drum kit and a keyboard on a stand adding to the overall ambiance.

The setup, which was invented in China, had first been tested out by the Coca-Cola brand team earlier this year when it was installed in Bangkok. A group of 8 students and faculty of the Deaf Reach School were taken to Bangkok to try out the system first hand.

Coca-Cola Pakistan then decided to acquire the system for long-term use in Pakistan, with a vision to enable more people from the Deaf Community to also experience the music of Coke Studio. The system is expected to reach Pakistan in the near future.