Phone Uses Jaw Bone to Transmit Sound

The Pantech A1407PT cell phone has a unique ability to let you listen. It allows you to listen to your calls with your bones.

The Pantech phone uses bone conduction; when the phone is placed against your jaw, the mechanical vibration from the phone is conducted to your inner ear, which responds normally. The result: you hear the other person on the phone perfectly.

A bone conduction cell phone has an additional advantage; it makes it easier to hear phone conversations in a noisy room. The sound is conducted directly to the inner ear (see model showing phone position).

For a truly futuristic phone, just one more step is needed: attach the cell phone directly to the skull behind the ear, under the skin. This is what science fiction writer Robert Heinlein suggested in his 1951 novel The Puppet Masters:

The sort of phone my Section uses is not standard; the audio relay is buried surgically under the skin back of my left ear - bone conduction.
(Read more about Heinlein's audio relay)

Here's a peek at some more futuristic cell phone technology:

• The Future Of Cell Phones
  Designers around the world are busy designing the next generation of cell phones that will probably still drop calls - but look exceptionally cool doing it.
• Cellular Phone Robot
  You've never seen a cellphone like this one. It actually has little wheels on it; it can find its way to a recharger (on a table top) and can find the owner of the phone to take a call.
• Saudi Arabian Mobile Phones
  It has a number of unusual, built-in features to serve the religious needs of its intended audience - faithful Muslims.

(This Science Fiction in the News story used with permission of Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction

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