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posted by chromas on Wednesday September 12 2018, @05:17PM   Printer-friendly
from the puns-about-Bluetooth-or-something dept.

Dubbed the Molar Mic, it's a small device that clips to your back teeth. The device is both microphone and "speaker," allowing the wearer to transmit without any conspicuous external microphone and receive with no visible headset or earpiece. Incoming sound is transmitted through the wearer's bone matter in the jaw and skull to the auditory nerves; outgoing sound is sent to a radio transmitter on the neck, and sent to another radio unit that can be concealed on the operator. From there, the signal can be sent anywhere.

The Molar Mic connects to its transmitter via near-field magnetic induction. It's similar to Bluetooth, encryptable, but more difficult to detect and able to pass through water.

Sonitus received early funding from In-Q-Tel, the nonprofit investment arm of the CIA, to develop the concept. Hadrovic declined to say whether CIA operatives had used the device in intelligence gathering. But the Molar Mic has seen the dust of Afghanistan and even played a role in rescue operations in the United States.


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  • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday September 12 2018, @05:31PM (3 children)

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Wednesday September 12 2018, @05:31PM (#733735) Journal

    I could clip this to the teeth of a guy I know who smacks his gums loudly when he chews. Broadcast that at the bad guys and they will all go mad within a fortnight.

    --
    Washington DC delenda est.
    • (Score: 2) by suburbanitemediocrity on Wednesday September 12 2018, @05:47PM (2 children)

      by suburbanitemediocrity (6844) on Wednesday September 12 2018, @05:47PM (#733745)

      We could give this to all the homeless people walking around talking to themselves and then maybe they wouldn't seem so crazy after all.

      • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 12 2018, @08:50PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 12 2018, @08:50PM (#733830)

        We could give this to all the homeless people walking around talking to themselves and then maybe they wouldn't seem so crazy after all.

        Wait, those are crazy people? I thought that people walking around, waving their arms, bumping into people and things and talking aloud were on the phone.

      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Osamabobama on Wednesday September 12 2018, @10:16PM

        by Osamabobama (5842) on Wednesday September 12 2018, @10:16PM (#733868)

        Do you want them to appear to be less crazy, by giving them a plausible reason to be talking without anyone apparently listening? Or do you want their unfounded paranoia of having the government listening to them from a device inside their head to have an actual foundation?

        Either way, they would seem less crazy.

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        Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday September 12 2018, @06:14PM (1 child)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday September 12 2018, @06:14PM (#733759) Journal

    Do these teeth mics cause your teeth to turn blue?

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 14 2018, @08:53AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 14 2018, @08:53AM (#734745)

      Might cause you to turn blue if you choke on it. Which may not be that unlikely in certain battlefield conditions.

  • (Score: 3, Funny) by shortscreen on Wednesday September 12 2018, @09:45PM

    by shortscreen (2252) on Wednesday September 12 2018, @09:45PM (#733850) Journal

    Where the hell is that music coming from? It sounds like... Rick Astley!?

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 12 2018, @09:56PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 12 2018, @09:56PM (#733859)

    ... REJOICE!

  • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Wednesday September 12 2018, @10:05PM

    by Gaaark (41) on Wednesday September 12 2018, @10:05PM (#733862) Journal

    Some days they'd get awfully annoyed with my burps.

    --
    --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
  • (Score: 2) by rigrig on Wednesday September 12 2018, @10:47PM

    by rigrig (5129) Subscriber Badge <soylentnews@tubul.net> on Wednesday September 12 2018, @10:47PM (#733883) Homepage

    This does look like interesting tech, both using your bone structure to couple sound, and using PSK instead of ASK seems like a sensible improvement over NFC (because someone realised the use case isn't "put as-cheap-as-possible RFID chips on everything" anymore).
    Too bad about the marketmangling speak in the article.

    Some red flags:

    • able to pass through water

      If the transmitter is in your mouth and you're wearing the receiver, all you care about is "able to pass through human tissue".

    • The power density of NFMI signals attenuate at a rate inversely proportional to the distance to the sixth power compared to the second power for Bluetooth signals. This means for the same distance, the power density of NFMI signals is 10000 times weaker than Bluetooth signals provided that both transmitting power are equal.

      Only if that distance is 10cm.

    • Somehow this comparison table [futureelectronics.com] mentions "Peak Current Consumption" but nothing like "power consumption" or "typical/average" consumption.
      And if the range is "Up to 3m", why do you need to wear a repeater around your neck?
    --
    No one remembers the singer.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @12:22AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @12:22AM (#733922)

    They installed mine years ago when I went in for a root canal.

  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday September 13 2018, @02:01AM

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday September 13 2018, @02:01AM (#733957) Journal

    The Explodo-Molar. [photobucket.com]

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    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @10:43AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @10:43AM (#734127)

    ... when corporations start mandating these for their staff.

    Collectable and returnable each day of course from the company pool on an as-required basis.

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