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Will Google Glass Use Bone Conduction
Google has filed with the FCC to use bone conduction in its new Google Glass device.
(Sergey Brin wears Google's AR glasses[Thomas Hawk])
Google filed a patent for a headset that uses bone conduction audio, which was granted only a week ago. The audio would work similar to that of certain children’s toothbrushes: a vibration transducer vibrates the bones in the user’s head, which translate the vibration to the cochlea, the fluid-filled cavity inside the ear, which then reads the vibrations as sound. The technology is already used in many headphones, with the advantage that such sound can be clearer than it is from the tiny speakers that are in earbuds.In its FCC filing, Google makes only one mention of a “vibrating element” in the headsets, wherein a video stored within the headset plays and transmits audio via vibration. The video test was conducted as part of testing the Bluetooth Low Energy mode. Google has also indicated plans for user input to the headsets, including number pads projected onto surfaces and gesture interpretation from the headset’s camera.
As far as I know, scientifiction great Hugo Gernsback was the first person to formally describe a device using bone conduction to transmit sound; he received a patent in 1924 for the Osophone:
This invention relates to acoustical instruments and the important objects of the invention are to provide simple and practical means by which hearing may be effected by sound vibrations transmitted directly to the osseous tissue of the body.
(Read more about Gernsback's acoustic apparatus - the Osophone)
Via Wired UK.
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