our origin.
It took someone who had to rely on feeling sound to invent sound you can feel.
What may come as a surprise is that the inventor of resonx™ is hard of hearing, but that’s what makes Ethan Castro anything but a defeatist. Ethan was born premature which resulted in issues with his hearing. When he was very young, his doctor joked, “As long as you don’t go into music, you’ll be fine.” That didn’t stop him. Ethan loved music so much that he would hug his father’s speakers to feel every note of a techno song. This passion led him to become a professional audio engineer and composer (against his doctor’s advice). Today, Ethan is completing his Ph.D. in Digital Composition, researching how to perceive sound by combining hearing and feeling into a new audio format. Ethan showed his research to Valtteri Salomaki who was immediately sold and exclaimed, “Holy sh*t, this changes everything." This sparked EDGE Sound Research and our journey to fundamentally change how we perceive reality.
our team.
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our advisors.
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our journey.
1993 - 2019 // Ethan’s Upbringing
our co-founder, ethan castro, became hard-of-hearing early on in life. his doctor said, “as long as you don’t go into music, you’ll be fine.” and with that, ethan went straight into music. as a professional musician/audio engineer, ethan recalibrated how he associated sound by touching speakers.
1993 - 2019 // Ethan’s Upbringing
To share with others how he experiences sound, Ethan decided to focus his PhD research on recreating his relationship with audio leveraging the tactile dimension. This led to a theory that audio experiences can allow a person to HEAR and FEEL sound in the entire frequency range.
nov. 2019 // the first demo experience
to further his understanding of developing this audio experience, ethan asked valtteri (val) salomaki to help for “a few weeks” to obtain a grant, but val wanted to first experience a demo. ethan quickly put together a basic demo attaching exciters to a seat, and when val felt sound for the first time all he could say was “holy sh*t!” he knew it was bigger than just a phd dissertation project. and so began the experiment, edge sound research.
JAN. 2020 // CES 2020 Presentation
Two months later, Val and Ethan presented their vision at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. They were met with both excitement and skepticism about their approach to audio as they depicted a future where any physical object could become a sound system that would allow an individual to both hear and feel in high fidelity.
MARCH 2021 // THE First 3D ResonX Prototype
over the course of 15 months, our team worked diligently to build the first 3d printed resonx core prototype. it worked as anticipated, but the team recognized that there was a lot of work ahead to reach the desired experience for a commercial product.
June 2021 // The Aurora Project Showcase
Only three months after making the first 3D printed ResonX Core Prototype, we put our technology to the test with the creation of the Aurora Project Showcase. In collaboration with RabCup, EPSON, MLC, and various other collaborators, we demonstrated the immersive experiences possible leveraging our ResonX technology.
Oct. 2021 // First Retail Implementation at J’Bez Barbershop
To explore new possibilities of using our ResonX technology, we decided to complete our first proof-of-concept experience in a retail setting at J’Bez Barbershop. This allowed us to learn how we can create each ResonX device as a lego block, building the foundation of a new world.
Jan. 2022 // CES 2022 Showcase
two years after first presenting our vision at ces, we were back. however, this time we created an exhibition booth using our resonx technology to show the world that what was once an idea now had now come to fruition.
Nov. 2021 // The Minnesota Twins Accelerator by Techstars
EDGE Sound Research was accepted into The Minnesota Twins Accelerator by Techstars, bringing unexpected momentum to kickoff 2022. In February 2022, the program came to a close with Val Salomaki presenting to 300+ supporters at Techstars Demo Day.
April 2022 // Full Launch of the Alpha Program
After receiving over 100+ applications to participate in our ResonX Alpha Program. We carefully chose 50 Alpha Users who would be the first to experience the full ResonX system and provide detailed feedback before our public launch this summer.
our journey.
1993 - 2019 // Ethan’s Upbringing
To share with others how he experiences sound, Ethan decided to focus his PhD research on recreating his relationship with audio leveraging the tactile dimension. This led to a theory that audio experiences can allow a person to HEAR and FEEL sound in the entire frequency range.
2019 // ethan’s phd research
to share with others how he experiences sound, ethan decided to focus his phd research on recreating his relationship with audio leveraging the tactile dimension. this led to a theory that audio experiences can allow a person to hear and feel sound in the entire frequency range.
nov. 2019 // the first demo experience
to further his understanding of developing this audio experience, ethan asked valtteri (val) salomaki to help for “a few weeks” to obtain a grant, but val wanted to first experience a demo. ethan quickly put together a basic demo attaching exciters to a seat, and when val felt sound for the first time all he could say was “holy sh*t!” he knew it was bigger than just a phd dissertation project. and so began the experiment, edge sound research.
JAN. 2020 // CES 2020 Presentation
Two months later, Val and Ethan presented their vision at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. They were met with both excitement and skepticism about their approach to audio as they depicted a future where any physical object could become a sound system that would allow an individual to both hear and feel in high fidelity.
MARCH 2021 // THE First 3D ResonX Prototype
Over the course of 15 months, our team worked diligently to build the first 3D printed ResonX Core Prototype. It worked as anticipated, but the team recognized that there was a lot of work ahead to reach the desired experience for a commercial product.
June 2021 // The Aurora Project Showcase
Only three months after making the first 3D printed ResonX Core Prototype, we put our technology to the test with the creation of the Aurora Project Showcase. In collaboration with RabCup, EPSON, MLC, and various other collaborators, we demonstrated the immersive experiences possible leveraging our ResonX technology.
Oct. 2021 // First Retail Implementation at J’Bez Barbershop
To explore new possibilities of using our ResonX technology, we decided to complete our first proof-of-concept experience in a retail setting at J’Bez Barbershop. This allowed us to learn how we can create each ResonX device as a lego block, building the foundation of a new world.
Jan. 2022 // CES 2022 Showcase
Two years after first presenting our vision at CES, we were back. However, this time we created an exhibition booth using our ResonX technology to show the world that what was once an idea now had now come to fruition.
Nov. 2021 // The Minnesota Twins Accelerator by Techstars
EDGE Sound Research was accepted into The Minnesota Twins Accelerator by Techstars, bringing unexpected momentum to kickoff 2022. In February 2022, the program came to a close with Val Salomaki presenting to 300+ supporters at Techstars Demo Day.
April 2022 // Full Launch of the Alpha Program
After receiving over 100+ applications to participate in our ResonX Alpha Program. We carefully chose 50 Alpha Users who would be the first to experience the full ResonX system and provide detailed feedback before our public launch this summer.
