Klarinet Archive - Posting 000823.txt from 1995/05

From: John Baetens <JSBtens@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Crystal clear: bone condu...
Date: Mon, 29 May 1995 10:56:40 -0400

This discussion of bone conduction reminds me of an old radio
I bought through a mail order house several years ago. It was
called a 'Bone-Fone'. It consisted of a long narrow flexible
flattened tube with the electronics at either end. You wrapped
it around your neck like a scarf. Each of the two speakers
would be face down against your collar bone. The sound would
travel from your collar bone up to the inner ear. It actually worked
pretty well. It was designed by a skiier who wanted to listen to
the radio while skiing. You could wear layers of clothing over
the radio without affecting its sound. Probably the reason it
never caught on was Sony introduced the Walkman shortly
after it came out. The advantage of the Bone-Fone, however, was
that it did not block out other sounds the way the Walkman
does. You could carry on a conversation while listening to
music.
With today's multimedia computers, probably the best way to
determine how you sound is to record yourself using the
sound card technology in your computer. This technology
allows you to record with CD precision in your own home. It
is important, of course, to have a good microphone and high
quality speakers on your system to get the best effect. Most
systems come with el-cheapo speakers, which doesn't make
sense to me, since this doesn't take advantage of the clarity
of digital sound.