Apparently in an effort to produce even crappier-sounding music than earbuds, Japanese manufacturer Thanko is preparing to offer this VONIA bone conduction "Sports HeadBand," which is designed to work particularly well with the new iPod shuffle. Electronista is reporting that the headband will not not have to sit directly over your ears in order to transmit those high beat rate tunes directly through your hard noggin, thus leaving you free to hear that dump truck on your morning run. I'm not so sure about this one, but they go on sale in Japan soon for about $84. It's not clear if they're coming Stateside.
[Via electronista]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-15-2007 @ 9:32AM
Jon Niola said...
Wow Mat way to not know your facts about the technology.
Bone Conduction is a hearing aid technology. For some people who were born with malformed ears (or in some cases no real ears at all), this technology allows them to have near normal hearing by conducting sounds through the bones of the skull into their inner ear.
The product you have posted here allows people with these types of hearing aids to actually have an iPod and listen to music etc.
Google "bone conduction hearing" to read more about it. It is an interesting technology and for some their only means to hear.
--Jon
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3-15-2007 @ 10:23AM
tevetorbes said...
Jon, don't get your panties in a twist. If you actually RTFA you would realize that this company is CLEARLY NOT marketing this device to people with hearing deficiencies, but instead so that people can "look cool" while doing "extreme sports".
Wait, so companies use technologies for something other than their original intended purpose? MADNESS!
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3-15-2007 @ 10:23AM
Pedro Vera said...
A former colleague uses swimming goggles with a built-in MP3 player that uses bone conduction. She claims that underwater they work very nicely.
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3-15-2007 @ 10:34AM
Greenline said...
That thing sounds crazy. All of those things sound crazy.
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3-15-2007 @ 12:10PM
marcos said...
This might actually be useful for wearing under my motorcycle helmet.
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3-15-2007 @ 1:32PM
Matt said...
When my brother was on the SWAT team in Idaho, he showed me the bone-conduction headsets they used on their operations. That way, every officer could hear the radio chatter but no sound leaked to anyone else, so their cover was never blown.
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3-19-2007 @ 11:35PM
Chef JoAnna said...
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