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Listen to me, bonehead
KERRIE MURPHY 'Defrag'

ARE you sick of listening to things the old-fashioned way?

Well if so, Defrag has some news that may cause you to shout "Yahoo and hurrah!" so if you are reading this in a public place, don't say we didn't warn you.

It seems that Japanese company Temco has developed a pair of headphones for mobile phones that bypasses the ears and uses something called bone conduction technology to transmit sounds through your skull and directly into your auditory system. I'm sure you'll agree with us when we say: "Euwww. That's kind of creepy."

And we wonder if the same sort of filters that our ears provide are available with this system.

Imagine, for instance, that your boss rings you with a plan about how to implement technology within the company, despite the fact he or she doesn't have the technological aptitude to use the warm-air hand dryer in the toilets.

If you were using your ears to take this call, you would automatically tune out and just insert a few appropriate phrases of agreement every now and again.

Have these so-called scientists done any research to determine whether the paying-no-attention technology is at the ear or brain level?

What if bone conduction bypasses all of that and you spend weeks going nuts trying to figure out how to make the stupid idea work?

It would certainly waste a lot of time that could be spent pointlessly surfing the Web.

Until we know for sure, Defrag recommends wearing a tinfoil hat while using the headset, because it's better to look foolish than to be foolish.

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Comment:
Hmmmm

Regards from OZ (slow news night):o)

-- Pieter (zaadz@icisp.net.au), March 05, 2000

Answers

Pieter,

Bone conduction exists in everyone. One of the tests for hearing loss is the Rinne test where a tuning fork is held on the mastoid process of the skull, and when the patient can no longer "hear" it, it is moved right in front of the ear. A normal person should still be able to hear a tone, but someone with conductive hearing loss won't, because their "hearing" through bone conduction is greater than that through the tympanic membranes.

It might be nice for communications, but probably not for Music!

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), March 05, 2000.