piped audio

Many years ago the place I worked for awhile provided music to all the workstations, to be listened to, or not, as each person desired. My memory, such as it is, tells me this was by plastic tube, not wire, and non-electrical headphones were plugged in to make use of it.

Does this make sense, could it have really been done that way?

Most certainly you could listen on a plastic tube but that is not essentailly the means of distribution.

Its still used in older examples of distributing audio for hospital radio in the UK.

Audio is still deliverd in a traditonal wiring circuit to a bedside speaker located behind a panel in the wall.  Here the patient listens via a plastic tube which works much like those walkie talkies you made as a kid using string and a tin can.

Kind regards toneranger33

Until some years ago it was done that way in airplanes. With a special headphone you had to rent. So yes, you weren't dreaming.

Its still used in older examples of distributing audio for hospital radio in the UK.

The main reason that plastic tube distribution was used is that in terms of hygiene, it was pretty easy to keep this system clean. Since modern personal headsets have come along though, and people have their own, it's not the issue that it was. But in that link between the box on the wall (or the local bedside unit) and the listener the tube's pretty reliable - and if it doesn't work it's pretty damn obvious why, and is easy to fix. Unfortunately the same can not be said for newer electrical headsets.

Having local hospital radio is excellent for recovery rates - people can't wait to get out! Yeah, I know it's a cheap joke, but having listened to a hospital requests show recently, I can't help but think that maybe there's some truth in it...

Having local hospital radio is excellent for recovery rates - people can't wait to get out! Yeah, I know it's a cheap joke, but having listened to a hospital requests show recently, I can't help but think that maybe there's some truth in it...

It was all Jim Reeves and Cliff Richard in my day...

It was all Jim Reeves and Cliff Richard in my day...

Despite a few desperate requests, as a matter of principle I've never done hospital radio. If I want to torture a semi-captive audience, I do it here!