Molar Mic lets soldiers and spies listen in
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- Published: Monday, 24 September 2018 07:35
- Written by News Editor
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A tiny device that “snap fits” to your back teeth could revolutionise hands-free communication by enabling wearers to speak and hear radioed messages without any visible headset or microphone. The Molar Mic clips to the wearer’s upper molars and incorporates a waterproof microphone and a bone-conduction speaker to transmit incoming sound through the teeth and skull to the inner ear.
Sonitus Technologies, the company behind the gadget, has announced that it has been awarded a $10 million contract with the US Department of Defense to provide the US Air Force with a novel new personal communication system that Air Force personnel have nicknamed the ‘Molar Mic.’ The innovative two-way, personal communication system, fits a miniaturized traditional headset into a device that clips to a user’s back teeth. The incoming and outgoing audio are relayed between the device and a small radio unit concealed on the body by technology similar to Bluetooth.
Peter Hadrovic, chief executive of Sonitus Technologies, told the Defense One news website: “What you are doing is receiving the same type of auditory information that you receive from your ear, except that you are using a new auditory pathway — through your tooth, through your cranial bones — to that auditory nerve. You can hear through your head as if you were hearing through your ear.
“Over three weeks, your brain adapts and it enhances your ability to process the audio,” he said. Sound levels from a whisper to loud speech are captured clearly, says the company, and because the microphone is well-shielded by the mouth from external noise sources only the user’s voice is transmitted even in noisy environments. These properties and the device’s hands-free nature make it potentially very useful for military and rescue operations, as well as in covert applications.
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