Molly Oswaks, Editor Gizmodo

Japanese electronics company Kyocera has developed an innovative new transducer to replace outmoded—and underperforming—speakers in a phone.

Whereas conventional phone speakers transmit sound waves to your ear drum via a multistep process of vibrations and wave travel, stopping at various aural checkpoints along the way—with the pressed to your ear, Kyocera’s ceramic transducer will transfer crystal clear sound directly through tissues in your skull, straight from the surface of the phone’s vibrating faceplate. With fewer speed bumps along the way, the voice on the other end of the phone will sound as if it’s coming from inside your very own head. Which would probably make an angry conference call a rather unsettling experience.

The first device using this ceramic technology is set to come out in Japan very shortly, with similarly equipped smart phones making their way to the U.S. very soon after. [GigaOm – Image via Nomad_Soul/Shutterstock]