From: Neil.Wallace@p21.f804.n800.z3.fidonet.org TidBITS#140/31-Aug-92 (Neil Wallace)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Speak with your ear
Date: 6 Oct 92 21:02:41 GMT
Reply-To: Neil.Wallace@p21.f804.n800.z3.fidonet.org
Organization: FidoNet node 3:800/804.21
Originator: wtm@sheldev.shel.isc-br.com

Index Number: 24658

I found this article recently and thought it sounds good for those
with a disability to use when/if it becomes readily available in
the future.

Enjoy.

Norris Ear PHONE
----------------
  One of the most interesting technologies I saw at Macworld had
  little to do with the Mac. So why did this company come to
  Macworld? The technology enhances various communications
  applications, and lots of Macintosh companies are working on
  improving communications using the Mac.

  The product in question comes from Norris Communications, and they
  call it, appropriately enough, the Norris Ear PHONE[tm]. The Ear
  PHONE is this little item that you put in your ear, much as
  someone might wear a hearing aid or old radio earplug speakers.
  Unlike a hearing aid or radio speaker, the Norris Ear PHONE acts
  as both a speaker and a microphone. At the moment it uses a
  unidirectional microphone that works wonderfully, although I found
  it disconcerting to talk to someone on the phone without holding
  anything. (Norris kindly gave Mark Anbinder and me a private
  demonstration so we could try it.)

  As neat as the unidirectional model was, Norris has an even more
  theoretically impressive version in the works... the prototypes work on
  the principle of bone conduction. For those of you who aren't
  familiar with the principle, when you talk, you set up vibrations
  not only in the air surrounding you (causing the sound) but also
  in the tiny bones in your ear. Bone conduction microphones do not
  pick up any background noise, because that noise doesn't cause the
  bones in your ear to vibrate. You can also speak in a low voice,
  because all you have to vibrate are those bones, not the air
  around you.
..............
  The first model of the bone conduction microphone will hook to the
  phone via a cord, but Norris has a wireless 900 Hz spread spectrum
  model in the works as well, so eventually your phone won't hold
  you hostage at all. You may not have to slap your chest as do the
  actors in Star Trek: The Next Generation because Norris hopes to
  have the Ear PHONE be voice-activated, but one way or another,
  your personal connectedness will increase radically.
..............
  As far as applications of the Ear PHONE go, Norris showed some
  relatively simple ones and a few more impressive ones. Many of us
  keep our phone and address information on the Mac now, and some
  people even use their modems (or a little hardware device from
  Sophisticated Circuits) to dial the phone. Eventually Norris wants
  the Ear PHONE to work as both a telephone speaker and microphone
  and also as a voice command microphone for the Mac. Once we have
  Casper voice-recognition technology (about the same time we all
  have Cyclone Macs and a chicken in every pot), I could have the
  Mac dial the phone with a voice command, and without doing
  anything else, suddenly be talking to someone, all without
  fiddling with handsets and keypads and all that. I gather that
  Apple will also better integrate telephony into the Mac via the
  Comm Toolbox and OCE, so that applications will have an easier
  time working with telephone applications.
...............
  You can't buy the Ear PHONE just yet since Norris hasn't started
  full production runs, but they do have a Partner program that will
  provide you with an Ear PHONE, technical information from the
  company, and both phone and CompuServe tech support. It costs $99,
  and if you're interested, give Norris a call.
...............
  These real and humorous concerns aside, I have high hopes for the
  Ear PHONE. Norris has to make sure the voice quality of the bone
  conduction version equals the quality of the unidirectional
  version, and they also have to ensure that the price at least
  competes with traditional headsets. If Norris can meet those
  design goals, everyone will want an Ear PHONE. If not, it will go
  the way of other niche market electronic devices, including a few
  that have used bone conduction unsuccessfully even when you
  inserted the device deep in your ear. I think I'd rather have a
  Babel fish, but barring that, I'll take an Ear PHONE.

    Norris Communications -- 619/679-1504 -- 619/486-3471 (fax)
      norris@applelink.apple.com

  Information from:
    Jennifer Blome & Randy Granovetter, Norris Communications
    Norris propaganda

  Related articles:
    MacWEEK -- 18-May-92, Vol. 6, #20, pg. 4

From: TidBITS#140/31-Aug-92

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