That’s Using Your Skull

The F3 iheadbones wireless headset in use.

How Sea Isle City Inspired a Stereo Headset That Doesn’t Block the Ears

“Necessity is the mother of invention” means that when put in a particular situation, someone is likely to think about a problem and be inspired to create a novel or ingenious solution. And so it makes sense that when Tom Buroojy, a seasonal Sea Isle City resident at the time, noticed the number of bike riders, joggers and walkers around town engaged in their activities with earbuds or headsets covering their ears, he saw the potential danger for the user – especially in the midst of the congested streets throughout the island in the middle of summer.

Relying on more than 30 years of experience in various aspects of the electronics industry, Buroojy set out to design a possible solution. The concept of “bone conduction,” discovered more than a half-century earlier to assist the hearing impaired, is the ability to conduct sound through bones. Buroojy surmised that in today’s world, there could be limitless consumer applications for bone conduction if quality sound at variable volumes could be offered at a competitive price point. And with that concept, iheadbones was conceived in 2010 as the world’s first device that allows the user to listen to anything without blocking their ears.

Using Bluetooth technology, iheadbones is a lightweight stereo headset that can be used to listen to audio as well as answer and make telephone calls. With its sleek design, there is virtually no sound leakage, there are solid high and low tones, and they operate all day with eight-hour-plus battery charge. Best of all, since the ears are not blocked or covered, the user can remain aware of the world around them.

“Especially bike riders,” Buroojy says, in a recent conversation from his home in Sea Isle City. “With earbuds or headsets, it’s often difficult to hear what’s going on around you. iheadbones allows you to be more aware of your surroundings. They also fit well with a bike helmet.”

Tom Buroojy with his wife Karen, who handles marketing for their products, on their deck in Sea Isle City.

The bone conduction headset rests on the temple, above the ears, providing a safe alternative for getting high-quality stereo sound. One current iheadbones user from New York City recently described how he utilizes his headset: “I’m using it under my ski helmet in Park City. I’m not shouting on the chairlift when I talk to friends as I do when I have earbuds in, nor is my music annoying everyone as it does when I use the helmet speakers. It’s easy to take a phone call, easy to connect, and no wires.”

Ideal for cyclists, walkers, joggers, skiers, snowboarders, gamers and construction workers, the OSHA-approved iheadbones have been discovered by others seeking specific solutions.

“We’ve learned that there’s also a market for iheadbones for medical purposes,” Buroojy notes. “For example, for medical reasons there are some people who can’t be around magnets. Our headsets are magnet-free. There are also some people who just cannot use earbuds.”

Raised in South Jersey, Buroojy’s family vacationed in Sea Isle City since the 1960s. “We rented first and then Dad built a house,” he says. It was probably in the mid-1980s that the “kids” and grandkids outgrew that single-family house. Living in rural Pennsylvania, Buroojy purchased his own shore home in 1986. Sea Isle City remained his “getaway” until he and his wife moved to Sea Isle full-time. The pandemic of 2020 brought the opportunity to spend even more time with their family and grandchildren.

There are a handful of different audiences that have purchased iheadbones over the last 15 years – for various needs or desires. In addition, iheadbones are a great option for anyone wearing a headset for communications as their job, people with hearing loss who wear hearing aids, or people who need the television so loud that it annoys everyone else in the house. “There are so many uses for them,” Buroojy concludes. “But safety was the original need.”

To learn more about this groundbreaking device that is now being utilized worldwide but developed for a need seen right here in Sea Isle City, visit iheadbones.com.