Innovative "skull bone headphone" to reach mass market

Innovative "skull bone headphone" to reach mass market

June 14, 2006

An innovative headphone that uses the vibrations of the skull bone instead of the eardrum to transmit sounds is poised to go on sale in earnest in Japan.

Morito Co., a wholesaler of footwear and apparel materials said Wednesday it has tied up with Goldendance Co., the developer of the new headphone, called Audio Bone, and acquired the exclusive rights to sell the product in Japan.

People normally recognize sounds by detecting vibrations in the air through the eardrum. But Goldendance''s "bone conduction" technology bypasses the eardrum, sending vibrations through the skull to the auditory nerve.

The Audio Bone, for use with portable music players, is attached to the temple while in use and does not cover the ears. As a result, users can hear what other people say or other sounds while listening to music.

The new headphone also prevents the heavy burden imposed on the eardrum when people listen to music with conventional headphones.

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JimmySeal said:

If you could really bypass the eardrum by placing vibrations on the temple, wouldn't they have developed this long ago for people with damaged eardrums?

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http://www.pde.com/~kazemir/HearingAids.htm said:

As with any other hearing aid, the quality of sound from a bone conduction hearing aid is not perfect. Both the dynamic range and the frequency range are limited, resulting in sound similar to listening through a telephone. Another disadvantage, which is specific to hearing by "bone conduction," is that the listener hears in "mono." When the bone is vibrated in any location, the sound travels to both inner ears at almost the same time.

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