BARCELONA – Did you know that your eyes are electric? NTT Docomo does, and has harnessed their potential (ahem) to control your MP3 player.

The Eye-Controlled Earphones, on show at the Mobile World Congress, have electrodes around the outside of the 'buds. These electrodes, called "electroculograms" (EOG), detect tiny difference in the electrical potential of the eyes as they move. The eye is positive at the cornea and negative at the retina. As the eyes move, the potential around it changes, and these changes can be used to control things.

Now, you don't want to skip tracks every time you look to the right, so there is a code involved, much like those used to play the classic Virtua Fighter, with its double-tap joypad commands. Here at the show, we were treated to a demo. To play/pause the track, you look left then right. To skip, look either left or right twice in succession, returning to the center each time. And for volume, you rotate your gaze clockwise or counter-clockwise.

As you can see in the picture, the poor demo guy ended up looking like a white-eyed zombie most of the time. The hit rate was good, though, and an on-screen graph showed the detection as it happened. And as the tech works with eyes open or closed, it could certainly be useful. You can even answer the phone, so next time your boss calls you on a Sunday and you roll your eyes, it'll be totally legit.