Have you ever visited Disney World and wondered who the people were behind the amusement park’s sights and sounds?

Well, some of those people work at the Disney Research Lab in Pittsburgh. The lab conducts secret R&D for Disney, in essence discovering the magic that goes into the “Magic Kingdom.” (ABC News is owned by The Walt Disney Company).

I recently toured the lab for this innovation blog, and was shown several cool gadgets and technology. Some of them had evident “real-world” applications; others were just really cool.

In the latter column was a microphone called “Ishin-Den-Shin” that transmits sound through touch. Named after a Japanese expression for non-verbal communication, the microphone converts a spoken phrase into an inaudible signal that is relayed through the speaker’s body. When the speaker touches another person’s earlobe, that second person will hear what the speaker said into the microphone.

Sounds like Disney just perfected the Telephone game. Watch the video above to see how exactly the “Inshin-Den-Shin” microphone works.