A cabal of cacophonic college kids inspired Shahriar Afshar to become an entrepreneur. It was 2004, and the physicist was serving as a visiting professor at a college, temporarily residing in the dorms. “It was summer, and the kids loved playing video games and listen[ing] to loud music, which shook the whole building. At the time I was in a fierce fight with colleagues, and writing response papers to their critiques of my work, and had to find a way to allow the kids [to] enjoy their games without shaking me out of my wits!” Afshar “gave it a few hours of thought” and came up with a winning idea that would give people the opportunity to essentially “feel” the sensations of video games and music without the noise. The device, which he named KOR-fx, and around which he eventually formed the company Immerz, Inc., is worn over the chest and uses haptic feedback. Pulses from the apparatus “sync” up with audio waves, sending low-frequency vibrations into the chest cavity, giving the user ...