Many people get annoyed when other people are talking on cell phones. The issue usually isn't that the other people aren't paying attention to what's around them, but rather that the normal audio cues that regulate conversational volume don't work very well on cell phones.

I would suggest that if a cell phone were designed to block out all ambient noise, and if it used suitable signal processing to adjust far end speech volume and near-end sidetone, it would be possible and instinctive for someone to carry on a conversation in a much quieter tone of voice.
-- supercat, Mar 04 2005

I believe this technology is allready incorporated, I mean baked. So perhaps people just need to be made aware that there really is no need to shout into your phone.
-- zeno, Mar 05 2005


If you mean that the phone mike should not pick up ambient noise, I think most phones do this already as Zeno says. What do you mean by 'near-end sidetone' - is this the reproduction of what the mike is picking up, into the earpiece of the same phone?
-- Basepair, Mar 05 2005


No, I mean having a phone headset that would make it so the person holding the phone would hear nothing but the phone. Yeah those headphones are bulky, but they'd also provide a visual indication to passers-by that the person was oblivious to their surroundings and could thus be safely relieved of their wallet.
-- supercat, Mar 05 2005


This would be dangerous. What about hearing car horns and sirens?
-- -----, Mar 05 2005


<and could thus be safely relieved of their wallet>

Yep, that wins my vote.
-- zeno, Mar 06 2005



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