It’s not often that you see a new product which caters to a potentially massive market, but that’s what the Waistband Amplifer does – available in six different levels, the tiny belt-mounted speaker offers up to 10 watts of amplification to broadcast your voice, or any audio source (SD/MMC card, MP3, iPod, etc) to the immediate vicinity.

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Charging the rechargeable lithium batteries requires three to four hours at a powerpoint, which then offers between eight and twelve hours of continuous usage.

The Waistband amplifier weighs just 425 gm and is perfect for teachers, tour guides, in-store spruikers, scout masters, construction site supervisors, soap box orators, religious sidewalk zealots or maybe even personal outdoor karaoke.

When I spotted the Waistband Amplifier at SinoCES in Qingdao last week, I was amazed that such a logical and incredibly useful product had not been produced previously – or at least I hadn’t seen one like this that’s so small (210mm x 130mm x 60mm) and powerful (8W or 10W).

At such an inconsequential size and weight, the Waistband Amplifier is suitable for even high ambient noise environments, and being patented, should provide Guandong-based Digital Pioneer Electronics with plenty of business over the coming years as it effectively represents a new and much-needed genre of product.

The Waistband Amplifier is so new that there’s no recommended retail price as yet, but the wholesale prices of the various models should yield an MSRP of under USD$50 for even the most fully-featured models.