Cobb: Bone Phones

January 22, 2004

Bone Phones

Bone conduction is back!

Way back in the 70s (literally) I used to sell stereo. One of the new gadgets that came out right at the same time as the Walkman, was the 'Bone Fone'. It was a radio embedded in a 24 inch long tube of flexible blue spandex. You wore it over your shoulders like an athlete wears a towel around his neck, or somebody named Biff wears a wool pullover when the sun comes out. The heavy parts were in the ends so you could actually jog with it on.

It used bone conduction to transmit the sounds through your collarbones. Or so it promised. They went for 65 bucks and I sold maybe 3 of them in a whole year. They really weren't very powerful and it turns out that collarbones don't resonate bass very well. Good idea though.

Well apparently, some folks in Japan think that speech is another matter, so they've gone ahead and made a bone conduction cellphone. It looks ridiculous, but it just might work.

Posted by mbowen at January 22, 2004 09:53 AM

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Comments

I saw this article the other day on Yahoo! and was thinking - what use is it if you have to hold the damn thing up to your forehead or whatever - you then have to scream and become almost as annoying as that Nextel noise.

Posted by: djspicerack at January 22, 2004 11:53 AM

I have a deaf grand daughter and I would like to get her a "Bone Phone" (70's Circa or newer if possible). Do you know if it is available?

Thanks in advance, John

Posted by: John at September 16, 2004 08:01 PM

I NEED ONE FOR MY SPECIAL NEEDS DAUGHTER. I WONT LET US USE THE HEADSET. THIS WOULD BE GREAT FOR HER BECAUSE THERE IS SO LITTLE MADE FOR CP KIDS.

Posted by: RICK at December 2, 2004 12:23 PM

I tried a set of these on a cross country bicycle trip in '85 and thought they were great. I have always wanted a set for myself.

Posted by: Brad Lindenmayer at January 18, 2005 08:26 AM