https://loodio.com - A smart device for bathroom privacy
I built it for myself because I just hate not having privacy living with my girlfriend. Then some other people enjoyed it and I made it into a product that is launching on Kickstarter soon.
I built it for myself because I just hate not having privacy living with my girlfriend. Then some other people enjoyed it and I made it into a product that is launching on Kickstarter soon.
Basically, your target audience are people (1) with this particular issue, (2) motivated enough to do something about it, (3) willing to pay the price and (4) liking the design/aesthetics. I realize that this is a "don't care if this succeeds" thread, but I'd still encourage you to not get your hopes high for the KS campaign.
It took me a while, but I've convinced my wife that farting is ok, and that you should only worry about subjecting others to lousy odours, and even that only when you are visiting someone or some place (indoors). Closing the door usually resolves this. The stigma is especially bothersome with a naturally shy toddler who wouldn't take a dump anywhere but home.
FWIW, music does not stop people walking into smelly toilets, but to each their own. :)
The product likely even makes sense, I just find the phenomena curious and sometimes infuriating (like with my toddler).
Another side effect was that you always knew when the bathroom was in use (aside from someone forgetting to turn the light off, which you now had radio playing to remind you off).
But why and how did we become bothered by the _sounds_ of it? Are you bothered by the coo-coos of birds, or morning rooster calls. Cats purring, screeching cat calls or dogs barking? All of these can be similarly annoying, but we are not "solving" them.
It's weird how our association of sounds with smells and dirtiness of taking a dump has made sounds which are rarely that bad in objective sense (loudness, pitch...) so unpleasant.
It's also how it's considered impolite to slurp a soup, and some people are outright disgusted by hearing it being done.
That’s my understanding of it anyways.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilets_in_Japan#The_Sound_Pri...
Edit: In a Shared Apartment we once connected a Radio and a Disco Ball to the light Switch. It was a windowless guest bathroom, we completely painted it black. Fun times.
Loodio always plays music when you enter the bathroom unless you mute it.
I have a quirk that I can't stand eating in silence - hearing the biting and chewing sounds of other people, and of the utensils in operation, is causing me extreme discomfort (this also applies to my own sounds, but I usually have computer fan noise to accompany me when I eat alone). I need a source of noise - intense table conversations, or background music - anything that stops my mind from focusing on the sounds of food being eaten. My wife knows about this, and whenever we visit our families, she secretly arranges for some sort of music to be playing by the time we sit to dinner.
You should save some electricity with a Loodio instead ;)
I urgently need it.
However it would be nice to get back those 50k I’ve spent on the development process but in either case I learned a lot.