Google’s ambitious and futuristic, augmented reality project – Google Glass which has a pair of glasses with a (HUD) Heads Up Display is seeing some new developments. As per reports about Google’s recent submission of their FCC filings for the device, it has been revealed that the pair of glasses will include bone conduction technology.
This technology will enable its users to listen to audio without using any kind of earbuds or earphones. Vibrations which can travel through bones near your ears are used to transmit audio to your ears thus enabling you to listen to the sound around you while you are also listening to audio from the glasses.
The FCC application includes information about the device having 2.4GHz 802.11 b/g WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0. There is also a description of the device having a reference to an “integral vibrating element that provides audio to the user via the user’s head” which points out that Google Glass will indeed use bone conduction technology.
Google’s patent application featuring bone-conduction technology on the glass frame
A few weeks back, Google also filed a patent for indirect bone conduction technology based on wearable computing devices. Other manufacturers such as Panasonic displayed their functional bone-conduction technology based headphones at CES this year which shows that some companies are developing devices and improving their products based on this technology at a fast-pace.
Panasonic’s Bone Conduction headphones
We feel that though Google’s Glass project is a bit ahead of its time, it will still pave the way for the future of wearable computing devices as it has a host of innovative features and will help its users to have all the information they need right in front of their eyes. Google has also revealed that it will release prototypes of the Google Glass for developers at $1,500.
Source: Slashgear