SANYO announced with NS-ELEX an industry’s first: a new earphone microphone. This product will likely be a big hit in the niche of the market it is targeting–people who need to communicate with each other in really loud surroundings. This could include people on construction sites, in law enforcement, reporters in crowded scenes, and your average person on their cell phone walking through the crowds and noise that fill Akihabara. This product is not limited to cell phones, as it is a microphone that could also be plugged into radios, and anything that takes a microphone.

Basically, the microphone you see here cuts the outside noise out, and allows your voice to come through clearly to the person on the other side. The single earpiece not only allows you to talk by picking up on the bone vibrations in your ear, but it also allows you to hear. A true 2-way conversation takes place in your ear. This product won’t come cheap though, as the wired version will sell in April at around 40,000 yen (~$350), and the wireless version (using Bluetooth technology–something we are very happy with) will be 60,000 yen (~$530).