General Information

Serial #

N 0970

Part Number

1

Total Parts

6

AKA

Neckset

Patents

N/A

General Description

Synthetic headset with metal battery contacts and wires.

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

28.8 cm

Width

24.9 cm

Height

10.9 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Communications

Category

Telephony

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Northern Telecom

Country

Canada

State/Province

Unknown

City

Unknown

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Ontario

Period

ca. late 1990s

Canada

The “hands free neckset”, which became the SoundBeam, was first proposed by Bell Northern Research industrial designer Jim Bee in 1983. The proposal called for a hands-free telephone accessory for the new open office and changing workstyle allowed for by the introduction of the desktop computer and the elimination of personal secretaries and receptionists. While trying to be ahead of the curve in the “new” office space technologically, by virtue of its design, the “necktie” still encoded a division of labour based on sex. Neither was it a speakerphone, which could be heard by and interacted with by everyone in the room, nor was it a headset which were associated with secretary/receptionist positions. The “neckset” as positioned as a new technology between acting as a speakerphone and a traditional headset. Despite being pitched to the leadership at Bell Northern and Northern Telecom and undergoing a cost breakdown analysis, the “necktie” never moved beyond the concept stage in 1983. By the early 1990s, the office space was changing again. Gone were individual office spaces, now reserved solely for managers and executives, with the cubicle, open concept offices becoming the norm. This new office layout created an opportunity to resurrect the “necktie” idea. Taking the idea one-step further, the Industrial Design group at Nothern Telecom worked with the researchers in the Acoustic Design group to develop a microphone and speaker system that would act like a “cone of silence” around the user. The goal was to engineer the product to be useful in an open environment where employees could not just shut an office door to cut out extraneous sounds. The SoundBeam was developed as far as a pre-production model used in market testing. 1000 of the devices were made and tested in offices across Canada. While there was positive response to the SoundBeam (in some cases leading testers to keep their model), Nortel was unable to successfully market the product. Gone were individual office spaces, now reserved solely for managers and executives, with the cubicle, open concept offices becoming the norm. This new office layout created an opportunity to resurrect the “necktie” idea. Taking the idea one-step further, the Industrial Design group at Nothern Telecom worked with the researchers in the Acoustic Design group to develop a microphone and speaker system that would act like a “cone of silence” around the user. The goal was to engineer the product to be useful in an open environment where employees could not just shut an office door to cut out extraneous sounds. The SoundBeam was developed as far as a pre-production model used in market testing. 1000 of the devices were made and tested in offices across Canada. While there was positive response to the SoundBeam (in some cases leading testers to keep their model), Nortel was unable to successfully market the product.

Function

Wearable, hands free, speaker and microphone unit used with a telephone. This particular unit was used in the pre-production product trails to test how the market might use the product.

Technical

The SoundBeam was developed create an area of sound around the wearer which was not interfered with from people outside the telephone conversation. The location and the design of the speakers and microphone was developed through experimentation and consultation with the Bell Northern Research Acoustic Design group. The microphone and lover system are placed such that the wearer’s speech is captured at 100%, noises to the left and the right of the wearer are significantly reduced, and noises directly in front of or behind the wearer are in a null space for the microphone meaning that their interference is reduced to almost zero. The same effect occurs with the shoulder speakers wherein the wearer can hear clearly, people to the sides see a significant reduction (up to 18 db), and people to the front and the back are in a null zone. The acoustic properties of the SoundBeam were first developed for use in the Orbitor cellular telephone prototype and refined for use in the SoundBeam.

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

Label in battery compartment reads: "N 0970"

Missing

Appears complete

Finish

Grey synthetic casing with a green button and silver-coloured metal contacts for the battery.

Decoration

N/A