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“Bone-Conducting Headphones” Are a Thing That Exist Now

This article is over 9 years old and may contain outdated information

Say goodbye to bothersome earbuds and bulky Beats by Dre, because a pair of headphones that channels music directly into your skull has been invented. (Brain tumors sold separately.)

Do you ever find yourself listening to your Ipod and wishing you could just cut out the middleman and inject the music directly into your brain? Well thanks to Batband, that crazy, crazy dream is on the verge of becoming a reality.

A kickstarter project launched at the beginning of the month, Batband has already more than doubled its $150,000 goal with 36 days still left to go.

BATBAND is described as “an elegant piece of sound technology allowing you to listen to your private soundscape as well as the world that surrounds you” by its creators, who praise the headset’s “innovative bone conduction system” as the next step forward in hands-free listening devices. The headset also has a microphone for phone calls and recording not unlike the bluetooth listening devices currently on the market.

What is a “bone-conduction system, and how long will it take to nuke my brain from the inside out,” you ask? Well, I’ll let the creators of Batband fill you in:

BATBAND works via bone conduction, consisting of transducers that emit sound waves perceived by your “private” inner ear, thus freeing your “social” outer ear. Sound waves are transmitted at a frequency that can be conducted through the bones of the skull. Your ears remain free, therefore you get to hear twice as much, without compromising on comfort, quality or style.

3 transducers emitting sound waves are incorporated in the product: two touching the sides of your head (temporal bone) and one at the back of your head (occipital bone). Furthermore, its discreet use means that any vocal content you receive is nearly inaudible to outsiders.

Check out the design art for Batband in the gallery below.

As for my first impression? Well, I think Batband — like Google glass before it — seems like a pretty goofy way to cure the most first-worldy of problems. It looks like it would blow right off your head in a stiff breeze, for starters, which isn’t even to mention the fact that the creators behind it seem to have a fundamentally flawed understanding of why headphones were invented in the first place (to shut the world *out*). Then again, Batband fits right in line with what we’ve come to expect from Studio Banana Things, aka the geniuses behind the Ostrich Pillow, so I’m sure it’ll be a big hit.

Head over to Batband’s Kickstarter page to learn more/donate.

Source: CNet

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