Re the Bone Fone from the the 70’s and 80’s did they work as advertised?
You lucky dog! It just so happens that I was a copywriter for a middling department store chain (now defunct) when the Bone Fone came out, and I had the dubious honor of writing our very first ad for this revolution in sound technology.
Basically, it fit over your collarbones and vibrated. The vibrations went from your collarbones to your skull, which in theory would make your head resonate with glorious stereo sound.
Did it work? Considering that, at the time, the main method to listening to music while you were exercising/running, was through a single earpiece from a cheap transistor radio in your pocket that lost reception or got de-tuned every time you took a step – yeah, it worked. Did it work well? Let’s put it this way. Have you seen anyone wearing a Bone Fone in the last 25+ years?
My little ad for the Bone Fone is still wedged in the back of my portfolio somewhere – it was the first ad I wrote for a product that sold out immediately, no doubt because the customers were as amused by the name as we in the advertising department were. But both the Sony Walkman and your basic boombox came along shortly afterwards, and both were vastly superior to the Bone Fone.
I believe I saw a Fonebone brand Bone Fone advertised in MAD Magazine once.
I knew a guy that had one, and I tried it. Worked as advertised. Sounded (?) really good.
The downside was it was heavy, it had to have very good physical contact with your chest, so it weighed like 6-8 lbs.
The ad said it weighed only 15 ounces. Still much heavier than the Walkman, which was just getting its start.
Radio Shack stores sold them. I tried one out. Now I wish I had bought one. I could actually feel the music vibrating through my bones.
They had a product for hearing people to hear via bone conduction? That is pretty cool.
I hear through bone conduction anyway (no eardrums and no earcanals)
Wow. Not to hijack too much but what IS where you ear canal WOULD be? Is it just sealed up? Does your ear look normal otherwise? I’ve never heard of that.
I wouldn’t mind seeing pictures … and how complete is your hearing? Are you going to start a thread, ask the person with no ears?
LOL…Yeah it is pretty weird. I saw the preemintent pediatric ENT as a teen and I can still hear him oooing and ahhing over my ears, Apparently most of the time with atresia, there’s no outer ear whatsoever. (called anoita) I do have normal outer ears. Although ENTS and audis can’t see in my ear with an otoscope at ALL. I have a half an inch of outer ear canal, which is enough so I can wear a behind the ear hearing aid. However the outer ear canal ends in a blind pouch.
I used one back in 1981. I borrowed it from a teacher for a bike trek we had taken. It was ideal for biking. Most of the sound came from the speakers that rested on the collarbone, and some of the bass was felt in the shoulders. It was nice to have music along, without covering my ears so I could continue to listen to traffic and fellow cyclists.
It was not high fidelity nor a private music device as others could hear the (tinny) music as well. Given the size of MP3 players these days, I would like to see the return of something like this, as I would like to take my music along with me on the bike, but won’t wear earbuds/headphones. Surely there must be a way to get decent sound out of small speakers now.
Put a FRS radio in there as well and you’ve got a winner!
hmmmm…pedalPod…iPed…Podal…hmmmmm…
Interesting.
I had no idea what the OP is about, but the first thing it made me think of was Napolean Hill’s son. Apparently when he was a small child, he’d put his mouth on the victrola so he could “listen” to the music.
I think my mother still has one in her attic. We got one for free because my father designed the packaging for another JS&A product, BluBlocker sunglasses. I remember trying it, not being terribly impressed, and putting it back in the box. I mean Bone Shaped Bag.