20 year old technology can't be found

[gunghoray]

I'm searching for something I haven't seen since 1982. A mail clerk was wearing what looked like a priest's stole around his neck. It was about a pound and about a half inch thick and three inches wide. It plugged into his tape player (remember, 1982?) It had NO SPEAKER, but he listened to his tapes via vibrating resonance that was transmitted through this gadget onto his ribs and collar bone. I've done many searches in Copernic to no avail. It really did work. I tried it and was surprised at the clarity. Anyone out there heard of such a thing, or know where I can read about it?

[Pretty Pretty Cyanide]

Can you lead me to your dealer?

[Bops2000]

Did it have the 'AMPEG' logo on it?
@

[gunghoray]

I know it sounds like la-la-land, but honestly, it really was a product. I have no idea what the logo or even the name of the thing was.

Thanks for trying to help. To find my "dealer," read chapter 11 of the book on my web site. It's free. Enjoy.
Ray www.families.nu (http://www.families.nu)

[Bops2000]

Good for you ray,
I am thinking you are looking for a
pcm type thing, as I recall Niel Pert (Rush)had a piezo type thing strapped to him for
some cuts on the Moving Pictures albumn. I did a quick search, but found a bunch of technical sites reletive to medical data.
What you want is just the oppisite -somthing that will transmit the same data.
All I can offer is a nice Jumpstation (search Engine), for a lot of stuff, try the educational section ..
good luck and good work here's the site: http://ejk.cso.uiuc.edu/jumps.html

[Crocodile]

I believe it was called "Bone Phone", becuse it used vibrations to transmit sound in ones bone stucture, for those with hearing problems.

jtp

[gunghoray]

Crocodile, You did it! http://www.audioforums.com/forums/biggrin.gif Thanks. There are many references to "conduction headsets" and it looks like Korea is a leader in the field, but I've only spent a few minutes researching. Thanks for the "Bone Phone" reference. It lead me to the right places to look.

This is exactly what a helpful internet community is designed to do. From Charleston, SC, thanks.

Ray www.families.nu (http://www.families.nu)

[knowdoubt]

Hey Ray, wish I'd opened this thread sooner (skipped over it for some reason) I remember exactly the product your referring to. There was a guy in a class I took in 1980-81 that wore one of those things over his shoulders 24/7 listening to music & as I recall Crocodile has it right being called 'Bone Phone'. Funny thing is I to have just recently been wondering what happened to this thing as I was thinking it might be suitable to use as a personal stage monitor instead of headphones. I've only just done a Google search so far & have come up with headsets using this technique but no shoulder unit yet. I'd like to know if you find it in that shoulder bone transducer style or whatever ya find that might be of interest along these lines.

Cool..! http://www.audioforums.com/forums/smile.gif

[gunghoray]

Greetings Knowdoubt, Crocodile, Bobs2000, and yes, Cyanide too! Thanks for your insight and sense of humor too. Your tips for the bone phone are right on track. Apparently the bone phone only lasted a few months on the market because of the less than 2 hour non-rechargable battery life. Expensive set of phones to use.... There are two main references I've found to the headsets now, both Korean. There's a nice Korean wave file explaining both in a lanugage I don't understand, but its good to watch, nevertheless.

After rolling around the web for a few hours last night, I'm convinced that these two Korean companies and a Canadian company have the technology cornered, and its almost exclusively used in aviation, military and police or telemarketing applications. Only one set of personal gear is available at about a hundred bucks. There ARE a few reviews written about them from November last year.

Rather than post links here, just search using Copernic or Dogpile for conduction headset. You'll get two dozen hits at least.

Thanks again for you diligence and insight. Sounds like we've stumbled onto a first generation headset that may very well have some useful applications in our world in a few years.

Gung Ho, friends, (www.kenblanchard.com)
Ray

[gunghoray]

OOPS, that's a Korean WMF video, not just an audio WAV file. Enjoy.

[Z13]

If you get the right "speaker" placement, volume and type of music (to get the right frequencies) to play, maybe you can get rid of kidney stones.......