I haven’t seen anyone wearing a headphone for a very long time. It must be because most of you have disowned the headphones and instead preferred using earphones since earphones look cool and fashionable. My own headphones are busy collecting dust in the drawer, I can’t remember the last time I needed to use them. It’s not that I am like the majority but it’s just that I am not a listener of ‘small’ music – or rather, music from tiny gadgets like iPods and smartphones. I prefer music from real Home Theatre Systems – music that don’t harm my ears. I prefer music that shakes not only body and heart but the floor too.
Talking about bursting the ear drums, we do know that listening to music via earphones is probably the most dangerous thing you can do to your ears, followed by listening to music via the headphones. As you use these technologies to enjoy your favorite jam, mindful gadget manufacturers will always advise you to keep tab of the volume level lest you turn deaf. It’s true – I have personally witnessed a serious hearing problem caused by loud music through earphones.
Not only does listening to music via earphones and headphones pose a threat to your ears, it also takes you completely out of the physical world. Being immersed in the virtual world of music will most of the time impact on your social life especially when your special someone needs your attention. The alternative is even worse. Imagine yourself in a public gathering e.g. in a mat, and you want to listen to your favorite high pitched irritating music via the smartphone speakers.
To save you from the two nightmares, Studio Banana Things (what a name for a company) has developed a headphone that has nothing to do with the ears. The Batband, as they call it, is a headphone that is placed around the head so that the sound from the headphone’s transducers can go directly to your temporal and occipital bones, bones that direct sound to your inner ear. In this way, you can still listen to your favorite beats without having to lose concentration of the external environment.
In order to work, the Batband uses a technology that was developed in the 1970s – the bone conduction technology. It is a method of audio transmission that funnels sound waves to the inner ear via bones in the skull, and as I have already mentioned, allows user to safely and conveniently enjoy listening to music and other sounds without losing track of the physical world. Batband also features a microphone that can allow two way communication such that if you were listening to songs from your smartphone, you won’t need to unplug the Batband in order to receive a call.
Currently the Batband is being purchased for $125 (roughly Kshs 12,500) on preorders through a Kickstaster campaign.
