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Samsung puts a microphone in your ear
Beats a flea any day

By Graeme Wearden

Published: Friday 07 March 2003

Samsung is set to unveil an ear-based microphone at the CeBIT trade show next week.

The device, according to Samsung, is the first earbud headset to contain both a transmitter and a microphone. It picks up the sound of speaking directly via the user's head, filtering out some 90 per cent of the background noise.

The Korea-based manufacturer explained - in promotional material released ahead of the world's largest ICT show - that "when we speak, our heads act as natural resonance chambers. That's why, for example, singers use earplugs: so they can hear their own voice better when on stage."

The ear bud will be available later this year, in both a wired and a Bluetooth version. The latter option could be well-suited to mobile phone users on the move, allowing them to conduct a call without having to hold either the handset or another microphone to their mouths.

Currently, most wired handsfree headsets are made up of a transmitter that fits in the ear and a microphone that is built into the cord that connects to the phone, while Bluetooth headsets tend to sit in the user's ear but have a microphone near their mouth.

Graeme Wearden writes for ZDNet UK