Unpatent #3: Plugged in but not listening

I have been curious why no one has thought of fitting a microphone into headphones and earbuds as standard. If they did then iPods and MP3 players could allow the wearer to selectively mix in the sound of the outside world and hear their music while the rest of the world didn't hear it.

Wearing headphones would no longer be such a security risk, and you could actually have a conversation with such a person without them having to yank out the devices or just stare blankly at you not understanding. Best of all when wearers start reaching their advanced years - well 30+ anyway which is about when all that loud music will have fried their auditory senses - they can just crank up the mix of the outside world and have the headphones double as a hearing aid. The same could be done while normal hearing persists to give the wearer augmented hearing capabilities.

To some extent I have already achieved this effect - while gaming on my home computer system I've been known to plug in the microphone and crank it up so that I can still hear what is going on in the room around me. If I needed to have a conversation I could just increase the microphone gain and converse normally - without shouting.

So earbud and headphone manufacturers - bring it on. But remember, if its not already patented the idea is out and public.