In the run up to the biggest technology trade show on the planet, CES, companies are starting to unveil some of the products they’ll be showing off next week. They’re always a little goofy and maybe a bit too futuristic, and mark this down as one of those.

LG has revealed the Tone Studio, a wearable speaker in a neckband. And that’s more or less it. You put this plastic band around your neck, hook it up wirelessly to your music device via Bluetooth, and the music will start playing providing you with a "personal surround sound experience".

LG is pitching the Tone Studio to have “realistic theatre-like sound for a cinematic experience wherever you may be”, but unfortunately for the rest of us that means that people might be tempted to wear them in public.

Rather than wondering how they work or how they sound, maybe we should be tempted to ask if we should have them at all. At home, they could be a cool thing to have, a more personal surround sound experience while watching a movie or relaxing with some music. But if you wear these outside, in public, letting everyone hear what you’re listening to instead of having earphones in, they’re much more of a public nuisance than a personal audio device.

We’ll have to wait and see how LG will exactly pitch these. If they encourage you to stay home with them, fair enough, but I for one don’t like other people blaring their music in public, so wearing a speaker around your neck won’t help with that situation at all.