I've always been wary about my daughter grabbing my iPod and jamming the little buds in her ears. It used to be hearing damage that worried me. Then I wrote a post here on the 'Derby about teenagers who are totally oblivious to danger when they've got their headphones turned to top volume.
A wise person once said complain and you will receive (I'm taking artistic license here people). So what did I get for my whinging about boneheaded teenagers? An e-mail telling me there's a better answer.
Bone headphones. Lacking in techy savvy (I leave that to the computer geek I married), I was clueless. But after being assured these were a parent's best answer to balancing kids' demands for their music with the safety of the whole body (ears included), I went looking. Geeks-in-the-know, go ahead. Laugh at me. Because these things are both the weirdest-feeling and coolest things I have found in the wide world of making parenting perfect gizmos (many of which I've learned about via my friends here on Droolicious).
The basic concept? Instead of discs that slip in the ear, these discs sit on the outside of the ear - on that bone right in front (with a name like that - imagine that). The music playing through the discs vibrates the bone, which transmits to the inner ear, which transmits to the brain (and the knee bone is connected to the . . . ). The delicate ear drum (what I worry about - probably needlessly - with my kid) is never even touched. And since you're not blocking the ear drum, you're not cutting off their connection with the outside world. In other words? They can still hear the cars, buses, trains . . .
To be fair to the company, they're not marketing them to kids. But is this something that could help with all our clueless teens? I know it would save a lot of parents' voices (no more screaming, "did you hear me? I saaaaaaid, did you hear me?"). I just don't know that kids are any more aware of the world when they can hear it!
Image: AudioBone
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