As if we don't hear enough voices in our head, designer Kate Hartman created what she calls the Muttering Hat. The hat is constructed out of an MP3 player, headphones, speakers, plastic funnels and microphones all hidden within a funny looking fleece hat. "This project considers internal mutterings - indistinct and intertwined thoughts that get trapped within your own head. By using the form of a hat, the attempt is to take what is normally contained, internal, unexposed, and to release it and expose it to the world."
The Muttering Hats take on two forms based on models of thought processes that we engage in with ourselves:
1. The Voices in Your Head Hat: In this scenario, a pair of muttering balls are tethered to the hat. They may be stuck to your ears, so that all other noise is obstructed by the mutterings, or they may be detached, providing the opportunity to escape from the mutterings or to share them with a friend.
2. The Talking to Yourself Hat: Through the use of a communication system embedded in the hat, you may speak outloud to yourself