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Tattoos have always been a visual medium .

But thanks to advances in technology , a tattoo artist in LA named Nate Siggard has managed to create tattoos you can LISTEN to.

He calls them "soundwave tattoos" and they work by combining with an app on your smartphone.

The app generates a sound wave pattern based on one minuted of audio - which can be spoken word, music or just a series of noises. That pattern is then inked on the skin and (24 hours later) followed up with an an overlay that gets read by your smartphones camera.

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In Siggard's case, he created a soundwave tattoo of his girlfriend's voice and his baby's happy gurgle. A video demonstration of the technology uploaded to Facebook quickly amassed thousands of comments. Not least from people asking how they could get one.

The app has yet to be released, but Siggard's company Skin Motion is planning to have it available in June 2017.

The company is planning to partner with tattoo artists around the world who will then become certified to carry out the designs.