A mildy esoteric project, that isn’t really about sewing as such, but did involve a bit.
I read an article about bone conduction and advertising via train windows (stay with me here) which led me to buying one of these:
http://www.maxvirtual.com/index.html
A bluetooth, headphone free, sound conducting hat! Sounds great huh? Perfect for jogging or commuting I thought.
Unfortunately, when it arrived, it turned out to be total rubbish, for a few reasons…
1) When playing it is easily hearable by other people, in fact it is actually louder for other people than a pair of ipod earphones.
2) The sound quality is awful. Very tinny unless you force the pressure pads onto your temples with your hands. Not entirely comfortable that…
3) At top volume the sound massively distorts.
4) At anything other than top volume it is basically inaudible, and even then it is only useable in a quiet room I suspect. It certainly won’t be audible on a train.
5) The build quality is poor to say the least.
In conclusion, not good at all. Then I had a brainwave! If it was in a headband rather than a hat, then it would be much tighter on the head so the sound will conduct better, and the material of the headband will muffle the sound a bit more for others.
It still won’t be suitable for commuting, but it might be salveageable for running.
30 minutes with a needle and thread later, and this is the result:
This should be banned
1 roll of black elastic and some black thread was all that was needed.
A couple of pockets on each side for the conductors, closed on three edges and open on the final one to slip the conductors in and out.
Elastic pockets
A larger pocket on the rear to put in the control unit.
And finally a moveable elastic wrap to hold the control unit in place.
Safe and secure
It actually works ok. Sure I look like an idiot, but that is my default look, so no biggy…
An Amateur Sews 