What Are Bluetooth Bone Conduction Headphones and Do They Leak Sound?
Feb 03,2023 | Sylvia
Have you ever heard music with headphones on while walking on the road, when the car behind you honks to remind you, everyone around you heard it, but you didn’t know it; or when you listened to music while wearing headphones in the office at work, even if your boss yells next to you, it can’t wake up your ears that were kidnapped by music. These awkward moments happen a lot in life, and they’re always unpleasant. However, there is a kind of headphone that can perfectly help you avoid these embarrassments, that is bone conduction headphones.
What are bluetooth bone conduction headphones?
Bone conduction headphones are headphones that are worn differently from traditional headphones. They don’t have earbuds in your ears like common headphones do, and they don’t need the sound to travel through the air in the ear canal to the eardrum like common type do. They are generally hung on the auricle, so that the sound unit is against the temple, and the mechanical vibration signal of the sound unit is transmitted to the auditory nerve of the inner ear through the skull, and finally people hear the sound.
Bone conduction technology is widely used in the military, emergency rescue, hearing assistance and other fields. Bluetooth bone conduction headphones are a new application of this technology in the field of consumer electronics. They are mainly positioned in the field of sports headphones. The existing products include running headphones, swimming headphones, cycling headphones and so on. They are becoming more and more popular due to the advantages that traditional headphones do not have, such as safety, health, hygiene, etc.
Of course, Bluetooth bone conduction headphones also have some disadvantages. For example, some people worry that it will leak sound. What is the fact?
Do bluetooth bone conduction headphones leak sound?
Bone conduction headphones will leak sound, but now some mature brands have found a solution to the problem of sound leakage, such as wissonly and Aftershokz have done a good job in reducing sound leakage.
The sound leakage problem of bluetooth bone conduction headphones is mainly due to the fact that they convert sound into mechanical vibration through the sound unit, and vibrate the bone to transmit sound. When the headphone is working, the shell of the headphone will be vibrated together by the sound unit, and the shell will vibrate the surrounding air, so sound leakage will occur. In other words, the shell of the bone conduction headphone becomes the “amplified speaker” of the headphone, spreading the sound to the surroundings.
From the principle of the sound leakage phenomenon, we can easily see that all bluetooth bone conduction headphones have sound leakage problems. Those headphones that claim to have no sound leakage at all are basically fake.
It’s just that some bluetooth bone conduction headphones may have made more efforts to reduce sound leakage. For example, some headphones use anti-phase sound waves to offset the sound waves of sound leakage, or through the integrated design of the body without holes, reduce the air vibration caused by the vibration unit, thereby reducing sound leakage. There are also some brands that optimize the structural design and increase the shock absorption function of the body to reduce sound leakage. It should be said that with the efforts of the entire industry, the sound leakage of bone conduction headphones has also been greatly improved.
Although bluetooth bone conduction headphones have the problem of sound leakage, it has to be said that they have several outstanding advantages
Safer: Wear them without blocking your ears, which allows you to maintain awareness of your surroundings and make outdoor sports safer;
Healthier: They use bones to transmit sound and do not need to use the eardrum, which avoids damage to the eardrum and can protect hearing well;
More hygienic: bone conduction headphones do not need to be worn in the ear, even if worn for a long time, they can keep the ear canal clean and avoid the growth of bacteria;
More comfortable: They are very light, there is no feeling of weight when wearing them, and the wearing comfort is very high.
These advantages also make them popular among young people.However, how to choose the right bone conduction headphones is still a problem. I think sound quality and sound leakage reduction are two key points.Now I will recommend some excellent headphones for you.
1. Wissonly Hi Runner bluetooth bone conduction headphones
Reason for recommendation
This is the fastest growing brand of bone conduction headphones in the last six months. The team are all engineers with 10 years of accumulation in the field of bone conduction technology. They started to develop bone conduction headphones that don’t hurt ears as early as 2012. To solve the problem of sound leakage of bone conduction headphones, wissonly has made comprehensive improvement in the aspects of vibrator, body design and software optimization. The final result has been applied to Wissonly Hi Runner, and the final sound leakage can be reduced by 90% after laboratory test. I actually used the test myself. At a distance of 2cm, the volume reached 70%, but I still didn’t hear the sound of the headphones, which protected my privacy.
Wissonly Hi Runner’s body is made of titanium, which can self-adjust the fitting position to ensure a good wearing experience for headphones, so that more people can wear it. As the core component of the product, the headphones plays a key role in the product experience. Hi Runner model is equipped with Bluetooth 5.0 chip, which makes Bluetooth connection faster and more stable. It also has 32GB of built-in storage so you can use it as an MP3 player.
Other parameters of Wissonly Hi Runner are also excellent. For example, the waterproof level reaches IPX8, and you can wear it to swim or even dive. The battery life reaches 8–10 hours, which is very important to me, because I go out for sports on weekends, and I go out for a whole day.
2. Philips 7607 bluetooth bone conduction headphones
Reason for recommendation
They use a 17mm large-scale sound unit that makes their low-frequency sound more delicate, and that makes middle and high frequency sound clearer and not harsh. IP67 waterproof performance allows them to have a waterproof and sweatproof function in daily wear, and to be no problem in the face of sudden rain in a short time. When you wear them at night, LED night running lights make passing vehicles perceive your own location, so the safety factor is higher.
3.AfterShokz OPENRUN PRO bluetooth bone conduction headphones
Reason for recommendation
Openrun Pro is the flagship product of Aftershokz, which is equipped with PremiumPitch 2.0+ technology, with good overall sound quality, rich low frequency sound, delicate intermediate frequency sound and strong high frequency sound penetration! It’s IP67 waterproof, and it’s basically enough to sweat during daily exercise. It’s fine to get caught in the rain for a short time, but it’s not suitable for swimming! In addition, it has no built memory, so it can’t be used as MP3, that is to say, it can’t be used where there is no Bluetooth signal.
4.Earsopen peace tw-1 bluetooth bone conduction headphones
Reason for recommendation:
PEACE TW-1 bone conduction headphones have a small and exquisite appearance. The surface is made of high-grade soft silicone material, and the weight is only 9g. You only need to hang them on the ear like earrings, they are more comfortable to wear and will not cause allergies. At the same time, they also have IP67 waterproof grade, and direct rinsing after exercise is not a problem, but they are not suitable for swimming. The sound quality and anti-sound-leakage performance are not bad, and the daily sports use can be satisfied.
The disadvantage is the clip-on wearing method, and wearing it for a long time may cause discomfort.
5 Nank Runner CC3 bluetooth bone conduction headphones
Reason for recommendation
Runner CC3 are equipped with the latest Bluetooth 5.3 chip. They can achieve stable connection during exercise, and even when you are running in the mountains with poor signal, there will be no disconnection with them.
They are also equipped with MP3 mode with 4G built-in memory, which helps you to enjoy music when the phone is not with you. The Runner CC3 weight 28g, and is compact and very comfortable to wear.
Among the five headphones, my favorite ones are wissonly and Aftershokz. Their technical accumulation is relatively strong and the product quality is good. Wissonly has a high cost performance, which is suitable for those with low budget but high requirements for product parameters.