Forget the dentist. One of the scariest places for me to be is a parking lot. I might not hear a car as it prepares to leave its spot and am always afraid I'll be hit this way.

If Vibering - a design concept by three industrial design students in Seoul, South Korea - ever becomes a reality, it could help prevent dangerous situations like this one.

Designers Kwang-seok Jeong, Min-hee Kim and Hyun-joong Kim created Vibering to detect "the sound that is out of sight" to convert to vibration that "we can feel."

The Vibering concept consists of a wristwatch and two rings, one worn on each hand. According to the diagram, wearers can guess causes of the sound through the length of the vibration. The information is transmitted to the rings and then to the watch, which then provides the cause, such as "Excuse me?" or a car icon with the words, "Watch out!" A third example provided is a face with "Call your name," so you're alerted when your name is called.

This device provides the awareness of certain sounds, similar to siren detectors in cars, except on the body. The reason why a siren detector works is because it's listening for the sound of a siren. In this case, the system would listen for specific sounds or phrases. This could be useful if these phrases are things you encounter on a regular basis. This would be especially useful for people who don't have any sound amplification, because someone who wears a CI or a HA is more likely to hear some sound and look for it. Ideally, you could program Vibering to listen for common things you know you have trouble hearing.

Curious to know whether Vibering is a viable idea, I asked Ron Miles, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Binghamton University. Since his focus includes vibrations and acoustics and he is currently developing directional microphones for hearing aids in a project funded by NIH, he has a unique perspective. Miles says he has thought about the problem of sounds from cars and thinks something like this is feasible and could be very useful. "I've wondered why such a product hasn't existed," he says. "I figured that if it failed to work and someone got injured, the lawyers would have a field day. Having the microphones on someone's hands could be a problem since it clearly will depend on hand placement."

When asked to clarify hand placement, Miles says the directionality of the microphones will depend on the placement of one's hands. People move their hands in all kinds of positions. The microphones will also detect reflected sound from the person's body and nearby surfaces, and that will depend strongly on where the hand is relative to those surfaces. "I would expect that if you hold your hand next to you, it will get a much different signal than if you hold your hand outstretched," says Miles. "Also, the microphones detect the orientation of the sound source relative to the position of the microphone, so if you twist your hand relative to the direction you are facing, the microphone might make you think sound is coming from the wrong direction."

In Miles' opinion, the microphones would be better placed on the head. Miles has also thought of including some sort of alarm in a hearing aid if a vehicle sound came from behind, which he says, might be a better way to do it.

In 2008, Vibering won an iF concept design award in Germany. It has received widespread attention and some families even want to buy it. It's still just a concept, but as designer Hyun-joong Kim says, "We hope Vibering will be put to practical use and [the] hearing impaired will [benefit]."

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