Bandai employee Katsura Arai bites a "Silent Shout" lollipop - a battery-operated lollipop holder that plays music inside people's mouths- at the game software maker's headquarters in Tokyo Wednesday, Aug. 19, 1998. The toy works by conducting sounds through the teeth. The sounds then echo into the inner ear. It will go on sale in Japan next month for about $10.The instrumental songs include a hip-hop rhythm. AP Photo/Koji Sasahara

Bite down and jam on tuneful lollipops

Hip Hop suckers have young Japanesse in frenzy

Web posted August 22, 1998

Associated Press

TOKYO -- The company that gave the world Tamagotchi virtual pets has a new hook: a battery-operated lollipop holder that plays music inside people's mouths.

The microphone-sized toy called Silent Shout plays a tune by vibrating a lollipop stuck into the device, Bandai Co. spokesman Masashi Umeda said Thursday. The instrumental songs include a hip-hop rhythm.

``One of the merits is that the sound won't annoy others,'' he said.

It works by conducting sounds through the teeth. The sounds then echo into the inner ear.

The toy will go on sale in Japan next month for about $10.

In the United States, CAP Candy, a division of toy manufacturer Hasbro Inc., recently introduced a toy called Sound Bites that also sends sounds through a lollipop into the inner ear.