14 DAY TRIAL // Almost every day, countless accidents are happening on the road, especially in cities and their surroundings, and, most often than not, they involve cyclists, joggers and all sorts of “outdoor people” who are looking to enjoy a breath of fresh air “in the wild.” Even worse, it’s not that uncommon anymore for people taking their casual walks to be assaulted and robbed in the parks of big cities. Now, things are even more serious when we realize that most victims of robberies or accidents are also those who like to listen to music and carry their portable MP3 players with them.
The biggest problem could reside in the fact that, since these people wear in-ear headphones or even common ones as they’re listening to their fave tracks, they not only tend to neglect basic elements around themselves, but they can't even hear properly.
Imagine yourselves, pedaling on your bike down a cold, shady alley, enjoying your favorite music and humming to the tune that’s playing. I bet you won't hear a speeding bus or car, let alone someone sneaking up on you. Well, so what's the solution, you might be asking yourselves.
Since there is no absolute answer to such a question, here's a part of it: the iSound Semicircle Headphones, a piece of special design head gear designed by Seohyun Baek and that's sworn to take the hazard out from your walks and rides.
As their very name suggests, the iSound headphones come in a semicircular design, meant to let you enjoy your music while, at the same time, be acoustically connected to the environment. Now, many of you could say that the music you'll be hearing will have a dramatically poorer quality than in the case of in-ear or normal headphones. And you could be right but, then again, that would bring us right from where we started, without solving the problem, isn’t that so?
The iSound Semicircle headphones boast a Bluetooth dongle that also includes the rechargeable battery powering up the wireless stream from your Bluetooth-enabled player or mobile phone. A great feature is that this dongle is flat and can be easily carried without even the slightest trace of discomfort, or just stowed away inside a pocket.
If the battery provides more than a couple of hours of playback between charges and if the sound quality is OK, then the iSound Semicircle is one piece of audio gadgetry that has real potential, and we might even see it go into mass production. However, how the ear pieces are supposed to be worn is somehow beyond me. So, feel free to post your ideas on this matter below.
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