Mobile Phone in Your Teeth!

thumbtack writes "News.com is running a story that reports that British researchers claim to have developed an implant that could be placed in a tooth and used as a mobile phone. According to the article, the sound would be transferred to the inner ear by bone resonance, and could be listened too anytime anywhere, with complete privacy." This is awesome. Course it would kinda suck if your phone rang when you were asleep.

Comments

Upgrades?

[The Turd Report]

Upgrading to the newest version would be a pain in the ass^Wmouth.

Re:Upgrades?

[dciman]

Reminds me of James Cole in 12 Monkeys. "It's in te tooth Bob....."

I'm sure they could put a little GPS transmitter in there too.

;-)

Re:Upgrades?

[mjh]

Yeah, and if turns out to be too annoying, getting rid of it will be like pulling teeth!

Hearing aid technology?

[crow]

Traditional hearing aids are simply microphones and speakers to make the noise louder. They work fine for some people, but this type of technology bypasses the eardrum altogether, hinting at the possibility of sending sound to some who otherwise wouldn't be able to hear at all.

I don't know much about this or related technologies. Is there any substance to my gussing above?

Re:Hearing aid technology?

[Wordplay]

Much depends on why it is you've become hearing impaired. There are three sections of the ear, external, middle, and inner. This kind of thing would only help those with external ear problems, as it still relies on the middle ear and inner ear to pick up the sounds. As it happens, many external and middle ear problems are correctable already via surgery or other medical treatment. Folks with inner ear problems -- that is, those with neural damage -- wouldn't be helped at all, and would rely on technology such as cochlear implants.

On the other hand, I know my father (who is significantly hearing impaired) absolutely hates many aspects of his hearing aids. He has to deal with fit, visibility, feedback from the compact size that places the mic near the speaker, etc. Sounds like this sort of thing could make one heck of a stealth-device for people like him.

Re:Hearing aid technology?

[Lish]

For certain kinds of hearing loss, where the nerves are still intact, a "cochlear implant" can be used. A microphone goes on the outside, and transmits through the skull to a receiver inside, which then passes the sound on to the cochlea (the spiral-shaped bit in your ear that the auditory nerve endings are in). This bypasses the eardrum and middle ear, helpful for, say, people whose deafness is caused because the bones in the ear have fused.

This is my very not-a-doctor recollection of it. Here's some pages on cochlear implants from Google that would give more info.

I think this is related to the idea you're getting at, though it's a different technology.

Re:Hearing aid technology?

[Pedersen]

The sound resonates through your skull; but those vibrations are picked-up by your eardrum, which is a tightly pulled film attached to the nerves that translate its vibrations to sound.

Normally, I don't get so upset at this sort of thing, but for some reason, idiocy like this has pissed me off today. No, the eardrum does NOT translate vibrations to sound, or any other such nonsense.What the eardrum (or timpanum) does is to act as the first step in hearing something.

Sound waves travel through the air, striking the eardrum. The eardrum vibrates, causing the bones of the middle ear to vibrate as well. Now, I can't remember the order of vibration, but I can tell you that one of those three bones is attached directly to the eardrum, and it, in turn, causes the other two to vibrate. Finally (and I'll admit that my knowledge becomes more hazy here), the third bone is attached directly to the cochlea (or inner ear), which translates those vibrations from the third bone directly into nerve impulses, which are sent to the brain.

The eardrum itself is nothing more than the starting point for the whole sequence. If you can directly vibrate the bones correctly, you can create a sound which nobody else can hear.

Re:Hearing aid technology?

[Fig, formerly A.C.]

To pick up where Pedersen left off, the cochlea is a fluid filled snail-shell shaped tube that is lined with small hairs. The hairs are hooked to nerve endings. The final bone in the three bone series causes the fluid to vibrate, moving the hairs, and the nerves pick that motion up. IIRC, the length of the hair and the diameter of the tube are used to differentiate frequencies. I'm not too sure on that last bit, however.

Re:Hearing aid technology?

[hyrdra]

Normally, I don't get so upset at this sort of thing, but for some reason, idiocy like this has pissed me off today. No, the eardrum does NOT translate vibrations to sound, or any other such nonsense.What the eardrum (or timpanum) does is to act as the first step in hearing something.

Which is good, because you don't know much about how the ear works either. It works like this:

Sound waves travel through the air and into your ear. The pressure from the waves causes a flap of skin to vibrate back and forth due to the difference of pressure between one side and another of the flap. That flap is called your ear drum.

The vibrations cause the pressure inside the ear to change also, and cause the tiny bones in the ear to vibrate. Those bones transfer the vibrationss to the cochlea, a hollow tube-shaped spiral like thing with fluid inside.

On the inside of the cochlea, there are tiny hairs attached to nerve endings, kind of like the flagella of organisms, except when they move they generate an electrical charge that is picked up on the nerves. The cochlea has a tube that is at first large and goes down in size. As it does so, the resonant frequency also does and that's how we can perceive different frequencies. That's why a lot of times people compare the ear's function to that of a Fourier transform, because it is able to take a sound of many frequencies and break it down into each frequency and determine the relative amplitude of each one using the hairs and different sized tubes.

The nerves carry the electrical charges to the auditory center of the brain where they are processed in a very advanced way that even includes how your ear is shaped and depends on it to tune the directional mechanism. There was actually an experiment that changed the shape of the outer ear and as a result the brain had to relearn the new shape and during this process the subject couldn't tell where sounds were coming from. So there is a significant amount of critical engineering here and as you can imagine the human ear is a complex work of art and technically advanced.

Now what is interesting about this tooth speaker (what I call it) is that somehow they are using the skull to transfer the pressure waves (sounds) to the cochlea. There's nothing wrong with that -- actually you can even hear your own body's noises by covering your ears and those are transmitted largely by bone and tissue. You can even hear a very high frequency noise that your nervous system produces when neurons produce a certain response every 1.5 seconds.

My question is that the ear has evolved to be designed so well and so intricately and is a better design than any sound engineer could come up with. Obviously the quality and frequency range of sounds depends on its transfer medium -- for example you can hear many low frequency sounds through wood and all sorts of materials but high frequency doesn't travel well over tighly packed materials, such as solids. The last time I checked bone was pretty solid.

So how are they getting pased that fact, and will it sound like listening to a loud speaker pressed up against wood? I'll bet they have a frequency model of how sound is carried from the tooth to the skull and then to the inner ear, and dynamically adjust the frequencies to represent that model. I'd better hope so or it won't sound too good.

Still though, I can see where this could have applications for those who have had accidents and have problems with their ear drum, etc. Of course there is surgery but in the mean time you can stick one of these things in your mouth and be back to normal (or at least something like it). For the rest of us if the sound quality is good enough it could be the ultimate headphone, but that's really all I see it as being marketed as in the commercial, consumer world.

Microwave exposure?

[splorf]

I thought holding the antenna too close to your head with a normal cell phone increased your exposure. Having the phone in your tooth sounds like really asking for it. Maybe the tooth phone could do double duty though. If your food has gotten cold, the phone microwaves could re-heat it while you're chewing.

E-911 anybody?

[sterno]

Excellent, combine phone implants with the ability to rapidly triangulate any cell phone, and you've got embedded tracking of the citizenry. Weeeee, sign me up! I'm not with Al Qaeda so I shouldn't have any reason to hide, right?

And imagine the advertisements...

[TellarHK]

New Nokia T1, smallest cellular phone ever! Just stick this fan-cooled battery in your cheek so it won't burn your skin, change it every day, and talk gingivitis away!

And just imagine the new acronyms they'd be coming out with. Portable Lightweight Audible Query Using Electronics, voice activated to!

Get PLAQUE implanted and never miss a phonecall again!

Top 5 reasons against telephones in your teeth

[tjansen]

1. You dont want a cable hanging out of your mouth when loading the telephone's batteries
   
2. You cant see the display without a mirror
   
3. You need a tooth pick to dial
   
4. You cant phone while you are eating
   
5. With a vibrating alarm you could lose your tooth
   

Where's the Mike? Telepathy?

[iiii]

Imagine how it would sound if the pickup mike was in your tooth. But it's not. There isn't one. The article only talks about receiving sound.

Pretty wicked though.

Once the work out the mike issue this could mean *apparent* telepathy. Remember, "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

I can think of a dozen ethically iffy uses. Think: two people collaborating in a poker game, getting answers to questions on the SAT, a Miss Universe contestant could hear the question from a spy in the audience, even though she's in the isolation booth, etc.

How about a boob phone?

[aussersterne]

After all, in the next round of TV commercials, would you rather stare Jamie Lee Curtis in the tooth, or...

Kinda sucks

[smoondog]

Course it would kinda suck if your phone rang when you were asleep.

Or having sex, or eating, or exercising, or talking on another phone ...

And we thought carnivore has scary implications now ...

-Sean

Bluetooth?

[raduga]

It seems it should be easier to keep the handset in your pocket (easier for dialing, antenna, etc) but put a wireless intradental headset for speaker/mic.

Presumably, a filling in the space vacated by cavities. Should be the best use of bluetooth we'll see...

Very limited uses..

[ldopa1]

I see a large number of problems here:

1) I have two phones - one personal, the other for work. Would I have to get two implants? Then, how would I answer one, but not the other? OTOH - If I did this, a conference call would be a cinch.

2) What happens when I need to change from Sprint to AT&T? Do I have to go back to the dentist? Can I sell my old Sprint implant?

3) So how would I surf the wireless web? (Very big lately)

4) What about programming my phone book?

5) Wouldn't getting screwed by your telco now REALLY leave a bad taste in your mouth?

6) If I set the phone to ring "silently", it might just kick loose a filling or to.

7) I don't think anyone I want to talk to would appreciate me snacking down on a hoagie while I'm talking to them, which is almost the only time I get lunch.

8) I'd have to change toothpaste. I'm sure my Colgate Total isn't supposed to be used on electronics.

9) I don't think anyone would buy it, because then they wouldn't be able to say "I wasn't by the phone." Also, can you imagine some of the phone calls? Phone calls in the bathroom, in the shower, while -um- massaging yourself?

and finally...

10) I wouldn't be able to tell between the lunatics talking to God and a Fortune 500 CEO in a conference call. Particularly with the number of well dressed wackos in the world.

This is by far the worst idea I've heard yet.

Wake up kent!

[MobyDisk]

This is Jesus Kent, and I've been a very naughty boy... And one last thing: STop playing with yourself.

I'll be very disappointed if noone gets the reference to the greatest geek movie ever made (okay, maybe next to War Games)

Re:Bad idea

[ocbwilg]

Specially when it's been announced today [bbc.co.uk] that mobile phones pose a health risk.

Yes, but then they've been reported to not be a health risk, and then they were a health risk, and then they weren't, and so on and so on and so on for a couple years now. Considering the amount of "health risk" the average person endures on a daily basis I think that it's silly to split hairs over mobile phones. Could they give you cancer? Possibly. But so does half the stuff I eat, secondhand smoke from bars, and electromagnetic radiation from any of a dozen other possible sources in my environment. Can they prove that my use of a cellphone will take a year off my life? 5 years? 10 years? If not, what's the point? I could use a cellphone for four hours a day every day and die in a car wreck at age 35.

Re:Web browsing?

[Traicovn]

I guess having a video-enabled tooth-phone wouldn't be much help either to anybody except your dentist or orthodontist :)
I wonder what the regulations would be like about using one of these while you are driving...
Oh yes, and of course, we could now have no idea whether or not the crazy people walking down the street ranting, mumbling, or screaming were crazy, or talking on a brand new tooth-phone! :)

Oh yes, and then of course people would be hanging their heads out windows and opening up their mouths to the sky to try to get better reception :)

I had a prototype

[ocbwilg]

I was acutally worked with James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau on prototyping this device, a fact left out in the article. The trickiest part was dialing. We initially settled on using a combination of light taps on the tooth with the tongue to initiate calls, but we ran into a problem. When I tried to pick up women in bars with the old "tying a cherry stem into a knot" trick, I inadvertantly rang up 9-1-1.

Back to the drawing board.

Sounds like a good idea

[brogdon]

Until you realize you have to stick your tongue in a wall outlet to recharge the thing... :)

"Honey, why are you eating the extension cord?"

"I'm meephrbing muh foofphnd!"

"What?"

"I'm meephrbing muh foofphnd, hammt!!"

"I can't understand you."

"I'm recharging my tooth phone, damn it! Now go out to the garage and get me some electrical tape and a case of Bactine."

You have been slightly mislead...

[the pogoman]

The news.com story leads you to believe that these researchers have developed a tooth phone. This is in fact not the case. Instead, they have developed the technology to allow signals (not specifically cell phone) to be transimitted to your inner ear through bone resonance. This is much cooler because aside from the obvious security issues, it is much more versatile and could easily be "turned off." I still wonder about how they plan to power it though...

"Essentially the futuristic tooth would use wireless technology, such as 802.11 or bluetooth, to take signals from audio devices such as mobile phones, radios, stereos or computers, Auger [one of the two main researchers] explained to ElectricNews.Net. These signals would be changed into vibrations that would travel from the tooth, to the skull, eventually creating audible sound in the user's inner ear. No one but the user would be able to hear the sounds."
A more accurate story from ElectricNews

Also of interest is this site. It is James Auger's personal site about his research. It was up before, but I was having some problems with it moments ago.

"Real Genius"

[faqBastard]

Is anyone else reminded of the scene from "Real Genius" ?

Kent.
This is God.
You've been a very naughty boy.
...
I want you to think about what you've done. And until then, STOP PLAYING WITH YOURSELF.

:-)

Great idea, but use as a general-pupose tranceiver

[maddogsparky]

You could have it be a "dumb" device. It could communicate with the actual device a la Blue tooth and just act as a speaker and microphone.

Benefits to using it as a dumb device would include allowing audio communication with any device that communicates in that protocol (laptops, PDAs, cell phones, pagers, portable audio devices, or even cordless adapters to work with an existing device that has an existing stereo headphone or line-in/out jack.

While the article is low on details, I would guess that it would be possible to implant multiple devices that are tuned to the user's individul characteristics to provide high fidelity, stereo sound.

I hesitate at using any previously mentioned technology implanted in your body other than for medical reasons, but this sounds really cool. Depending on price (and the results of safety studies), I would sign up for this one.

Re:Great idea, but use as a general-pupose trancei

[The Turd Report]

Good idea, but there had better be some good encryption and security in place. Or some evil haxor might start beaming 'Take Me Down to Funkytown' in a loop to your head.

Re:Great idea, but use as a general-pupose trancei

[matrix29]

You could have it be a "dumb" device. It could communicate with the actual device a la Blue tooth and just act as a speaker and microphone.
Benefits to using it as a dumb device would include allowing audio communication with any device that communicates in that protocol (laptops, PDAs, cell phones, pagers, portable audio devices, or even cordless adapters to work with an existing device that has an existing stereo headphone or line-in/out jack.

While the article is low on details, I would guess that it would be possible to implant multiple devices that are tuned to the user's individul characteristics to provide high fidelity, stereo sound.

I hesitate at using any previously mentioned technology implanted in your body other than for medical reasons, but this sounds really cool. Depending on price (and the results of safety studies), I would sign up for this one.

One thing REALLY bugs me about this.

How do you charge the battery?
Seriously, the only easy way is a magnetic inductance charger. But then who wants to have a jaw recharger hanging from their lips for 3 hours or more? Contact charging is even worse with conductive saliva. It would be like having a 9-volt battery under your tongue all day. And how long can a battery that small hold a charge? Even if it just transmits to a signal booster on the belt a few feet away that will still suck down the juice on the battery constantly.

The concept is silly and pointless.

If we could have radioactive plutonium batteries that small it MIGHT work, but there is no room for adequate rad shielding in a tooth-sized area.