Sky-net…it is closing in on you!
The talking train windows that transmit adverts straight into your head when you lean against them
- Ad agency BBDO is trialling a stealthy new way to get people to listen to adverts on German trains
- Transmitters send high-frequency vibrations to windowpanes allowing commuters resting their head against the glass to hear advertising messages through bone conduction
- The messages cannot be heard by the rest of the train passengers except the commuter whose head is in direct contact with the window pane
- The technology could be used for entertainment and information services in the future
Everyone has experienced having an advert jingle or catchy slogan stuck in their head.
But a new concept is literally putting adverts straight into people’s skulls by using ‘bone conduction – the transfer of sound to the inner ear through the bones of the skull.
Advertising agency BBDO is using a combination of the concept and clever technology to allow individual commuters to hear an advert in a noisy train carriage.
The company is harnessing technology to allow train windows to silently talk to commuters in a new product placement strategy.
Tired commuters resting their heads against train windows in Germany got a surprise when they heard a voice inside their heads.
Transmitters on a train route between Munich and North Rhine-Westphalia send high-frequency vibrations to windowpanes, allowing commuters to hear advertising messages through bone conduction.
It is the transfer of sound to the inner ear through the bones of the skull
It is one of the reasons why a person’s voice sounds different to him/her when it is recorded and played back
Some hearing aids use it to achieve an effect equivalent to hearing directly through the ears
Bone conduction headphones do not block outside sound but you can still hear music in very noisy environments