How Do Wireless Bluetooth Bone Conduction Headsets Work and How About Their Advantages
Apr 11,2023 | David
In the last 2 years, wireless Bluetooth bone conduction headsets are becoming more and more popular. Whether you go out for running, cycling, or going to the gym, you can see someone wearing them. As a star technology product, they are very different from common headphones. Undoubtedly they are not another headphones, but another kind of headphones.
What is the difference between wireless Bluetooth bone conduction headsets and common headphones
Their biggest difference is the way to transmit sound. wireless Bluetooth bone conduction headsets use bones to transmit sound, while common headphones are air conduction headphones that use air to transmit sound. To understand this difference, I did a test. First put on wireless Bluetooth bone conduction headsets, and then plugged my ears with my fingers, at this time I found that the sound became louder rather, which is amazing! But when I wear the common headphones, when I do the same action, I find the sound becomes smaller.This is the secret of bone conduction transmitting sound!
The difference in sound transmission mode makes that you do not need to stuff the wireless Bluetooth bone conduction headsets into the ear and only need to attach the vibrating unit to the temple to allow the ear to hear the sound. This feature also gives more design space for the headphones, and designers design them as hanging-ear type or clip-on-ear type so that they are more comfortable to wear. And because wireless Bluetooth bone conduction headsets do not need to transmit sound through the air, their body do not need to leave holes for sound waves to enter and exit, which also allows them to have a better waterproof level.
How do wireless Bluetooth bone conduction headsets work
To understand how wireless Bluetooth bone conduction headsets work, we must first understand how we hear sound.
Simply put, sound is a vibration, and the source of sound can cause air, liquid, and solid to vibrate. The sound we hear everyday is this vibration into the ear, so the eardrum vibrates. The vibration of the eardrum passes through the ear ossicles to the part behind the ear called “cochlea”. The cochlea then transmits sound information from the cochlea to the brain center, and finally we hear it. The process by which we hear sound includes both air vibration and solid (bone) vibration.
The working principle of wireless Bluetooth bone conduction headsets is that they transmit sound not through air vibrations, but all through solid (bone) vibrations. The sound unit is usually attached to the temple, and emits mechanical vibrations. The skull transmits the vibrations to the cochlea that in turn transmits the sound information to the brain center, so the sound is heard.
The sound transmission path of wireless Bluetooth bone conduction headsets is that: sound waves, skull, bone labyrinth, inner ear lymph, spiral organ, auditory nerve, cerebral cortex auditory center. Compared with our traditional way of hearing sound (that is air conduction method), their transmission path is shorter, where air and the eardrum are no longer needed. So they can play a significant protective role to the eardrum, and are a very healthy kind of headphones.
The unique working principle bring them a lot of advantages.
Advantages of wireless Bluetooth bone conduction headsets
Safer: It does not block your ears when wearing it, allowing you to maintain awareness of the surrounding environment, making outdoor sports safer;
Healthier: it uses bones to transmit sound, and the sound is directly transmitted to the auditory nerve, avoiding damage to the eardrum, and can protect hearing well;
More hygienic: wireless Bluetooth bone conduction headsets do not need to be worn in the ear, even if worn for a long time, they can keep the ear canal fresh and avoid otitis media, otitis media and other diseases caused by blocked ear canal;
More comfortable: They are very light, and there is no sense of weight when worn. The surface of many wireless Bluetooth bone conduction headsets is made of skin-friendly soft material, which is very comfortable to wear;
Unique appearance: wearing wireless Bluetooth bone conduction headsets with unique design can help you attract more people’s attention;
When keeping in touch with the outside world, you can communicate with friends or colleagues while listening to music, and you will not neglect them because of listening to music.
There are two sides to the coin, wireless Bluetooth bone conduction headsets have many advantages, but it also has some disadvantages. Two of the most common shortcomings are sound quality and sound leakage.
In terms of sound quality, the sound quality of wireless Bluetooth bone conduction headsets is slightly worse than that of traditional noise-canceling headphones. Due to the principle of sound generation and sound transmission of them, when the sound unit vibrates the skull, it also vibrates the air, resulting in sound leakage. These two shortcomings, all wireless Bluetooth bone conduction headsets have, those ones that claim to be completely free from these two problems do not exist.
Of course, the sound quality of wireless Bluetooth bone conduction headsets is not so bad that it is intolerable. The sound quality of some good headphones is very close to that of traditional headphones. You can hardly feel these leaks under normal social distance and normal volume. There are also some brands by structural optimization, and the problem of sound leakage has been greatly improved.
A large number of earphone manufacturers have joined the field of bone conduction headsets. Which one is the best? I will give you some recommendations
1, Wissonly Hi Runner wireless Bluetooth bone conduction headsets
Reason for recommendation:
Wissonly wireless Bluetooth bone conduction headsets are the first brand I started to contact. When they recommended it on the online crowdfunding platform, I noticed it, after saw that many people were recommending, and I bought it. This Hi runner I used for a few months, and the overall performance was better than I expected.
Some wireless Bluetooth bone conduction headsets leak sound, and you know that I take privacy very seriously, so I’m very concerned about anti-sound-leakage technology. Wissonly Hi Runner does a very good job in the field. Its body is sealed, and through structural optimization and algorithm adjustment, its sound leakage is minimized. The official claim they can eliminate 90% of sound leakage. I do not have professional equipment to test, but I have tried and found that at 60%-70% volume, the sound is completely inaudible at a distance of 1.5 meters, which makes me very satisfied. I have actually compared it with other wireless Bluetooth bone conduction headsets, and the Wissonly Hi Runner has currently the best sound leakage reduction solution in wireless Bluetooth bone conduction headsets.
The Wissonly Hi Runner is also particularly comfortable in the wearing experience. Because the material of the whole machine is high-tech hypoallergenic silicone, and it is coupled with the ergonomic design that conforms to the structure of the human ear, so that users will not bring any burden to the ear under long-term wear.
Sound quality as the core performance is undoubtedly worth mentioning. Wissonly Hi Runner uses a large-sized vibration unit, the sound range is wider, the sound is more three-dimensional and deeper, so the sound quality is undoubtedly very good. And it is also equipped with a Bluetooth 5.0 chip, the connection is more stable. And it will not be disconnected when used, which is a good experience. The Wissonly Hi Runner also comes with 32GB of built-in storage that can store 5,000 songs, so you can use it completely as an MP3 player to enjoy music without your phone when you go out for a run.
2. Philips A6606 wireless Bluetooth bone conduction headsets
Reason for recommendation:
In terms of appearance, A6606 adopt a simple and solid color design. Except for the logo at the end of the ear hook, there is no unnecessary decoration. The overall sense is very strong, and they visually give people a simple sense of technology. They feel quite good to wear, neither compressing the head and cervical vertebrae nor messing up the hair. A6606 do not need to be worn into the ears. They do not hurt the eardrum during long-term wearing ,and they will not cause you sweat during exercise, and are comfortable and breathable. In addition, their IP67 dustproof and waterproof rating, 9-hour battery life, Bluetooth 5.2 and other features make the wireless Bluetooth bone conduction headsets a good choice.
3.AfterShokz OPENRUN PRO wireless Bluetooth bone conduction headsets
Reason for recommendation:
AfterShokz Openrun Pro’s headphones are very light, weighs only 26g. It’s very light and comfortable to run on your ears. The whole machine is made of titanium alloy, and the headphones on both sides are wrapped with skin-friendly silica gel, which make it has a IP67 waterproof grade. It can be drenched in the rain, splashed with water and washed, and there is no problem even in bad weather during outdoor sports. The structure adopts the back-hanging design and can’t be worn in the ear, which is very friendly to users who often wears it. The whole machine is also equipped with Bluetooth 5.0 three-core chip, which can realize fast connection, stable sound quality connection within 10 meters, and intelligent identification by algorithm, which can effectively filter the ambient sound and make the voice clearer.
4.Earsopen PEACE wireless Bluetooth bone conduction headsets
Reason for recommendation:
Unlike other wireless Bluetooth bone conduction headsets, this one has a charging case. The “T” shaped structure makes it stable as long as it is clamped on the ear. But due to the design of the clip ear, it may be a little uncomfortable after wearing it for a long time. It adopts the Bluetooth version of 5.0, can connect stably in a short distance and without obstacles. It reaches IPX7 level in waterproofing, can be immersed underwater for thirty minutes. In terms of sound quality, the sound quality of the human voice is clear, and the extension of the high tone is also good, but it will still appear turbid at the low frequencies.
5.Haylou PurFree wireless Bluetooth bone conduction headsets
Reason for recommendation:
Haylou PurFree uses Qualcomm QCC3044 chip to make Bluetooth connection more stable, and also supports dual-device connection. And it also has microphone call noise reduction technology to make people’s voices clearer. It is very light and is an open headphone, which also makes it have a better wearing experience. It is IP67 waterproof grade, and general sweat does not affect its work. It just cannot be used in swimming. It doesn’t have built-in memory and can’t be used when there’s no cell phone signal, which is perhaps one of its drawbacks.
Among the above five Bluetooth bone conduction headsets, Wissonly and Philip are my favorites. Their products are of excellent quality. In contrast, if I have to choose one, I will choose Wissonly because it has better cost performance.