Story highlights A new vest makes games and movies more immersive by vibrating your body

The brain processes experiences differently when accompanied by vibrations

The KOR-FX vest is $150 and works with any audio input

(CNN) Place both hands flat on your chest, just below the clavicle, and say something out loud. Feel that? Every time you speak, your chest cavity vibrates.

Physicist Shahriar Afshar thinks recreating that feeling is the key to making video games, movies and music more immersive, emotional experiences. He's created a vest called KOR-FX that plugs into an audio jack and turns sound into chest-rumbling vibrations, mimicking what your vocal cords do.

Most virtual reality hype has surrounded tools that create a visual experience, like the Oculus Rift goggles . Gadgets like this vest could provide an additional physical, tactile element to virtual reality.

The $150 KOR-FX feeds sound to the two transducers on the front of the vest. Regular sounds are translated into vibrations that are felt directly on the body. It's the same thrill you get in a movie theater when the bass is so strong it shakes your seat, but it uses less power and is portable.

I strapped the vest on and tested it. The vibrations ranged from heart-racing to subtle, and are surprisingly effective when paired with audio from a good pair of headphones. Footage of a DJ Tiësto show imitates the experience from the bass at a live concert. Explosions and gunshots rock you in the first-person-shooter game "Counter-Strike: Source."

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