How Does Bone Conduction Headphones Work and Can Others Hear The Sound from Them?

As the name suggests, bone conduction headphones are headphones designed based on bone conduction technology.

Bone conduction is a sound conduction method. The vibration of the sound source drives the bone to vibrate, and then transmits the sound to the inner ear, so that the sound can be heard. It transmits sound without passing through the air and eardrum, which also enables the sound transmission way of bone conduction to clearly restore the sound in a noisy environment, and will not affect others due to the spread of sound waves in the air.

The technology of bone conduction is very mature. In the 18th century, Beethoven used bone conduction technology to hear the sound of piano performance. Bone conduction technology has a wide range of applications. It has been used more in the military field and hearing assistance field in the past. But in recent years, this technology has been widely used in bone conduction headphones, making this headphone a fashionable product and becoming popular.

How does bone conduction headphones work?

When we speak, we ourselves actually hear the sound through the air (air conduction) and through the bones (bone conduction) at the same time. We may have become so used to it that we think that hearing our own voice is just transmit through the air. As an example,when you close your mouth while brushing your teeth, this ensures that there is no air-conducted sound, but you can still hear the brushing sound, and it is clearly heard, it is the sound through the bone.

Bone conduction technology is actually the technology of transmitting sound through bones. During the transmission process, the sound source causes the bone to resonate, thereby transmitting the vibration to the cochlea, which is the principle of bone conduction technology.

Bone conduction headphones are headphones manufactured based on bone conduction technology. When they work, people only need to stick the sound unit on the temple, and the sound unit will convert the sound signal into mechanical vibration, drive the skull to vibrate, and the skull will transmit the vibration to the cochlea. After the cochlea perceives the sound, it will be transmitted to the auditory nerve and brain. Finally, the sound is formed. This is how bone conduction headphones work.

Therefore, bone conduction headphones can hear the sound without being plugged into the ear. They can well protect the eardrum and maintain the hygiene of the ear canal, which is very helpful for ear health.

Can others hear the sound from bone conduction headphones?

Under normal volume, with a social distance of more than 1 meter, it is difficult for others to hear the sound of bone conduction headphones. Therefore, the privacy protection of the headphones is still good, and you can use them with confidence.

The reason why some people worry that "others will hear the sound of bone conduction headphones" is mainly because the headphones generally have the problem of sound leakage. However, due to the advancement of technology, mainstream bone conduction headphone brands have solved the problem of sound leakage well. Under normal social distance, your privacy is still guaranteed.

From the point of view of the principle of sound, all bone conduction headphones have the problem of sound leakage. Because they rely on the vibration of the sound unit to generate vibration waves, and drive the bone to vibrate to transmit the sound to the inner ear, so that it can be heard by people. Therefore, when the headphones are working, their shells will vibrate together with the sounding unit, and the shells will drive the air to vibrate, resulting in sound leakage. For the same headphone, when the volume is higher, the sound unit vibrates more, the air vibrates more, and the problem of sound leakage will be more serious.

Excellent bone conduction headphone brands have made a lot of efforts to solve the problem of sound leakage of headphones, and mainly adopted the following methods to reduce the problem of sound leakage.

Integrated body: The headphones body is designed as an integrated body without holes, so that there is no air in the body, and the air vibration caused by the sound unit is also reduced;

Shock-absorbing design of the body: through structural optimization, the shock-absorbing function of the body is improved, and the vibration of the body caused by the vibration of the sound unit is reduced;

Inverted-phase sound wave: The anti-phase sound wave is used to cancel the sound wave of the sound leakage, thereby eliminating the sound leakage.

It should be said that their efforts have paid off. The sound leakage problem of some excellent brands of bone conduction headphones has been well resolved.

Although bone conduction headphones have the problem of sound leakage, it has to be said that they have several outstanding advantages: they allow you to keep your attention on the ambient sound while listening to music, which is very safe; they will not hurt your ears, can Keeping the ear canal hygienic and more. These advantages are why they have become popular.

Next, I will recommend some excellent bone conduction headphones for you all.

1.Wissonly Hi Runner bone conduction headphones

Reason for recommendation:

I noticed Wissonly bone conduction headphones when they were first crowdfunded online. And later, I saw that some otologists were recommending them on online forums, so I bought them. This Hi Runner is their flagship product whose overall functionality is also the most perfect. The headphone use the latest research from the Wissonly lab. It increases the vibrating area of the vibrator by 35% and optimizes the direction of sound transmission to make the sound more concentrated, resulting in a wider range and more spatial of the music. The brand claims that its sound quality is HI-FI level, and I actually tested it myself. I thought that the sound quality was very close to HI-FI level, but it did not reach this level. Of course, the current sound quality is satisfactory enough.

Wissonly Hi Runner bone conduction headphones are also equipped with a new Bluetooth 5.0 chip that has stronger anti-interference ability, that can easily cope with various complex outdoor scenes, and ensures the good mood during exercise is not disturbed by disconnection. At the same time, the stable connection also brings low latency performance, and there is no problem in listening to songs, following dramas, and playing games. What's more, they have 32G of built-in memory that can store 5,000 songs. This helps you to enjoy music when you are exercising outdoors without your phone.

In terms of comfort, the Wissonly Hi Runner performs well, it is very light, only less than 30g, and it does not feel any weight to wear. The body is made of titanium alloy which makes it have a good fit, and you don't need to worry about their falling off during sports.

The waterproof of the Wissonly Hi Runner deserves special mention, and it is IPX8 grade. It means that you can carry it underwater for up to 20 meters and still use it normally, which is crazy!

2.Philips A8606 bone conduction headphones

Reason for recommendation:

The most peculiar point of Philips is that it is equipped with LED night running lights at the rear end of the fuselage, and the A8606 is also the same. The back of both sides of the headphones has rain-shaped lights flashing, wearing it at night can make people around you alert to your location. And turning on them during exercise can improve the safety factor, and night travel can also achieve the effect of not being collided. The Bluetooth version of 5.0 can maintain the smoothness of listening to songs at a short distance, and the 13.3mm vibrator makes it have a good performance in sound quality.

3.AfterShokz OPENRUN PRO bone conduction headphones

Reason for recommendation:

Openrun Pro bone conduction headphones with ergonomic ear-sticking design, which is worn by hanging ears, it have a light body, so they are comfortable and stable to wear. It supports IP67 waterproof, adopts magnetic contact to avoid water seepage for charging, and in order to be waterproof, it is coated with antioxidant nano-coating to isolate water vapor on the chip. Normal sweat and ordinary washing are no problem, even in the rain for a short time is ok, but it can't be used for swimming.

4.Earsopen peace tw-1 bone conduction headphones

Reason for recommendation:

It can't be worn in the ear, and it won't cause ear discomfort or damage eardrums for a long time. The wearing method of ear clip is different from other bone conduction headphones. This kind of wearing method is a little troublesome and can't be worn with one hand, but it can make the headphones have good stability and won't fall off during intense exercise. Its sound quality anti- sound-leakage are very well, and it can't be heard within normal social distance.

Its disadvantage is that the ear-clip wearing method may make you feel uncomfortable after a long time.

5.Haylou PurFree bone conduction headphones

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.

The above five bone conduction headphones are all products with good performance.Among them, wissonly and Aftershokz are the most recommended brands because they both have core technologies in this field. Compared with the two brands, wissonly's product parameters is better and cost-effective.