Do you ever feel like ads are speaking to you? Well, new talking windows ads for Sky Go—a mobile streaming service—literally speak to you using bone conduction technology.
So you’re just riding the train, commuting home, and you lay your head against the window and close your eyes for a minute. Just as you drift off, you hear the window ask you, “are you bored?” But no one else around you hears the ad. Are you losing it? Nope. A Sky Go module attached to the window was sending out high-frequency oscillations that were transmitted to your brain, which interpreted them as sound. So, you’re not crazy. But you’re definitely hearing voices in your head.
While Sky Go’s talking window ads are pretty creepy, they’re also interestingly innovative. Bone conduction works by moving the sounds of the inner ear through the bones of your skull to your brain. How? The vibrations are at just the right frequency to buzz through your cranial bones. And it’s typically reserved for specialized communication equipment used by the military, as well as for hearing aids. We’ve also recently started to see the tech in a few models of headphones. Now it’s being used to sell you stuff, too.
[DesignTaxi via YouTube]
