It was around this time last year when Japan's NTT DoCoMO's Sound Leaf handset made its rounds in the blogsphere. The device only works with their FOMA line of mobile phones so forget about importing one. For those of you who don't remember what it is, let me refresh your memory.
The Sound Leaf uses bone conduction technology to transmit sound to auditory nerves thru cranial bones instead of the ear canal. You could be attending a World Cup soccer match and still have no problem hearing since the sound is directly transmitted to your brain. For those same reasons, the technology also makes mobile phone use available to the hearing impaired.
So fast forward a year later and Vincent Nguyen from Slashgear got his grubby little mitts on one. You have to watch the video. Clearly, Vincent is impressed.
It seems like viable technology and perhaps future bluetooth headsets will use bone conduction technology in lieu of what we have now. It would solve the whole, "I can't find a bluetooth headset that'll fit my ear" problem.
Available now only for NTT DoCoMO FOMA phones for $85.
via Slashgear
I remember seeing something like this in a helmet for motorcyclists. It was a special edition thing. Maybe you know what I'm talking about.