How Do Bone Conduction Headphones Work and Are They Safe？

When some people who love sports are running or cycling outside, you may see that they wear headphones on their ears but not tuck into the ear. In fact, the headphones are probably bone conduction headphones.

Bone conduction headphones are headphones made based on bone conduction technology. The more complete statement of bone conduction technology should be bone conduction sound transmission technology. It directly uses human bones as a sound transmission medium, So sound waves do not need to pass through the external auditory canal and tympanic membrane,But pass directly to the inner ear.

How do bone conduction headphones work?

Bone conduction headphones are a kind of headphones that uses bone conduction technology, they are placed close to the bones, and sound waves are directly transmitted to the auditory nerve of brain through bones.

To understand how do bone conduction headphones work, we must mainly understand the sound transmission method and path. We can first look at the working principle of traditional headphones, and then make a comparison. Then it is clear.

Under normal circumstances, traditional headphones are essentially "air conduction headphones" that use the air in the external ear canal as the main sound transmission medium. In the air conduction process, the micro-horn of the headphones vibrates. Then sound waves are transmitted through the air in the external auditory canal to the eardrum, the ossicle, the labyrinth of inner ear and other parts. The vibration of the internal and external lymphatic fluid in the inner ear helps the spiral organ to complete the perception of sound, and then transmit to the auditory nerve. The auditory nerve produces nerve impulses and presents signals to the auditory center, and the cerebral cortex help us to "hear" the sound after comprehensive analysis.

The biggest unique feature of bone conduction headphones is that sound waves do not pass through the air in the external auditory canal and eardrum, but directly use the human bone as the sound transmission medium. When using, we need to put the sound source of the headphones against the skull behind the ear. And when the sound source vibrates, it will drive the skull to vibrate together, so that the sound wave is transmitted into the skull. And then the sound wave is directly transmitted to the ossicles through the skull bypassing the external auditory canal and the ossicles. And then the ossicles transmit sound waves into the bone labyrinth, so that the sound information is transmitted to the cochlea and auditory nerve etc..

Are bone conduction headphones safe?

We often hear people worry about the safety of bone conduction headphones, but we can promise that they do not harm the human body at all.

First of all, due to the sound transmission method of bone conduction headphones, they do not need to pass through the ear canal and tympanic membrane, which can avoid damage to the tympanic membrane. Moreover, the vibration waves of them are relatively moderate, and the impact on auditory hair cells will be less, so they are the headphones that cause the least damage to the ears.

Secondly, traditional earphones have problems with electromagnetic waves, which can cause damage to the human brain and hearing nerves. The electromagnetic waves of bone conduction headphones are extremely weak, which is the same intensity as the electromagnetic waves existing in nature. So they will not cause damage to the human brain and hearing nerves.

Moreover, bone conduction headphones can help avoid the dangers of wearing them. It does not need to occupy the ear canal when wearing it. In addition to hearing the sound in the headphone, you can also hear the sound of the outside world. Wearing them when crossing the road will not be in danger because you can't hear the sound of the horn; when you are exercising outdoors, you can also avoid some dangerous situations.

It can be seen that bone conduction headphones are relatively safe, but safety is not absolute. If you use them to listen to music at high volume for a long time, it will still cause damage to the cochlea.

In addition to safety, bone conduction headphones have many advantages, such as comfortable wearing, cleanliness, high waterproof level, etc.

Of course, bone conduction headphones have some drawbacks, the two most prominent being sound quality and sound leakage.Compared with traditional earphones that focus on sound quality, their sound quality is weaker, but this does not mean that their sound quality is poor. In fact, some bone conduction headphones with better quality have very good sound quality.

Sound leakage has always been a common problem with bone conduction headphones, mainly because the vibration of the bone conduction vibration unit drives the vibration of the headphone body, resulting in sound leakage. However, with the advancement of technology, better bone conduction headphones do a good job in reduction sound leakage, and the problem of sound leakage has basically been solved.

If you want to buy bone conduction headphones,you should choose those brand with strong technology in the field,such as Wissonly and Philips.Now I will recommend some good headphones for you

1. Wissonly Hi Runner bone conduction headphones

Reason for recommendation:

The Wissonly team has always attached great importance to the opinions of customers. It is said that their Hi runner model invited thousands of users to participate in the test, and that they constantly adjusted the design based on customer feedback. It is said that because of this, the product launch time was delayed by 3 months compared to the original plan time. I was so moved by this story that I bought their products.

Wissonly Hi Runner attaches great importance to sound quality. Their sound source adopts a large-sized vibrator, and through the clever structural design, the vibration area is increased by 35%. So the sound range is wider and the sound is more powerful. They have also made a lot of efforts in the treatment of sound leakage. The headphones’ body is sealed and integrated to minimize sound leakage.

Hi Runner are also equipped with a new Bluetooth 5.0 chip. They have stronger anti-interference ability, and can easily cope with various complex outdoor scenes without disconnection. They support IPX8 waterproof grade higher than the industry standard, are equipped with 32G body memory. They have stable connection and low latency performance. In listening to songs, chasing dramas, or playing games, they can meet all daily needs for headphones.

The Wissonly Hi Runner weigh less than 30g, have no weight bearing when worn, are very comfortable, and are very suitable for long-term use during sports.

2. Philips A6606 bone conduction headphones

Reason for recommendation:

The headphones have a compact structure that is completely ergonomically designed.

They are stable to wear, and cannot be shaken off in rough sport, which helps you to do movements without restraint during exercise. They are open headphones that do not need to be plugged into the ear. This keeps the ear canal fresh, healthy and comfortable.

They support IP67 waterproof grade, daily sweating is no problem. But after all, they are not professional-grade waterproof, can not be used in swimming.

3.AfterShokz OPENRUN PRO bone conduction headphones

Reason for recommendation:

This headphones focuses on the direction of the Bluetooth headheadphones, and the ergonomically designed ear-attached rear suspension helps consumers to do large-scale movements such as running and jumping without worrying about the headphones being dumped. Openrun Pro's bone conduction unit is designed with a 30-degree tilt technology, coupled with Aeropex suspension damping technology, which can effectively reduce the vibration generated during exercise and bring a more comfortable hearing experience. The waterproof level of openpro has reached IP67 level. If you sweat and rain during exercise, don't worry about it slipping or affecting the sound quality. The intelligent control button on the right side of the headset can realize blind exercise with one hand, easy song cutting and other functions only by raising your hand.

4.earsopen SS900 bone conduction headphones

Reason for recommendation:

This bone conduction headphone adopts the ear-clipping mode, and the novel wearing mode also makes it need to be worn with both hands. Moreover, there will be obvious discomfort of ear-clipping when worn for a long time. In the headphones’ body, the pressure control area is adopted, and the headphones can be controlled by clicking and double-clicking, etc. The single ear part weight of 8g basically has no weight sense during wearing. With the bone conduction vibrator technology newly developed by BoCo Company, it has a good performance in the low frequency range, but it has obvious sound leakage in the middle and high frequencies.

5.Nank Runner CC3 bone conduction headphones

Reason for recommendation:

Since the body of the runner CC3 is made of silicone material in the part that fits the skin, wearing it has a feeling of summer coldness, which can fully stimulate the fans of sports.

Its sound quality is not a big problem, and it has built-in 4G storage, which can store 1000 songs. And you could enjoy music in places when meet poor phone signal. The wearing comfort and stability are not bad.

It is that the waterproof level is not high enough, and it is not suitable for rain or water sports.

Among the several headphones recommended above, Wissonly and Philips have the strongest technical strength. Philips is a well-known big brand, so it doesn't need to say more. Wissonly deserves to be highly recommended. Their team has 10 years of experience in this field, and has a deep technical accumulation. The sound quality of the product is very good, and the sound leakage reduction is also very good.