Control your iPod--with your mouth?

It's a natural reaction for me to clench my teeth whenever that James Blunt song comes on my iPod. Yes, in a moment of weakness, caught up in the hype, I downloaded it; and it still lives in my playlists. So how very convenient it'd be if, with a little gritting of my teeth, I could skip past that ill-conceived purchase.

If the latest research in Japan comes to fruition, that could be the case. According to the AFP, a team at Osaka University has come up with a piece of head gear that lets you control your music player with your teeth. In tests, grinding the right side of your teeth starts and stops your iPod, while using the left side of your mouth allows you to skip through songs. And just so that your iPod doesn't confuse gum-smacking with a command, you have to sustain the action for about a second.

The head gear sends commands via infrared, and researchers believe it can eventually be used to control cell phones, wheelchairs, and other gear.

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