What Are Bone Conduction Headphones and Are They Worth Buying?

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. We all know that music genius Beethoven was deaf in both ears. In order to hear the sound, he bit the baton with his mouth and put the other end of the baton on the piano when he was playing. The vibrations of the piano are transmitted through the baton to his teeth and bones, and then to the inner ear. This method helped Beethoven to hear the sound of the piano, and he also created a large number of well-known piano pieces.

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.

The principle of bone conduction headphones

Bone conduction headphones are headphones based on bone conduction technology. Bone conduction is a sound conduction method with bones as the medium. It converts sound into mechanical vibrations of different frequencies, and transmits sound waves through the human skull, bone labyrinth, inner ear lymph fluid, spiral organ, and auditory center.

Compared with the classic sound conduction method of transmitting sound waves through the eardrum, bone conduction saves many steps of sound wave transmission, and it can achieve clear sound reproduction in noisy environments, and sound waves will not affect others due to diffusion in the air.

In fact, the principle of bone conduction is not mysterious. Each of us has experienced it in our daily life. When you eat, you hear the sound of the food being bitten off, but others cannot hear this sound, because the vibration of the food is transmitted to your auditory central nerve through the teeth and bones, and finally the sound is produced. This is an example of classic bone conduction. You can also knock your teeth now. Did you hear the sound? This is the sound passing through your skull to the auditory nerve, which also uses the principle of bone conduction.

Advantages of bone conduction headphones

Bone conduction headphones have three very prominent advantages.

Advantage 1 of bone conduction headphones: safer to use

Compared with common headphones, bone conduction headphones are placed on the cheekbones in front of the ears when in use. They conduct sound directly through the skull bone to the inner ear, keeping your ears open at all times, which does not interfere with any external ambient sound entering the ear. The wearer can even chat with friends around him while listening to music. Therefore, you can hear the sound of the outside world by wearing bone conduction headphones during outdoor sports, on buses and subways, running, and cycling. The wearer can maintain awareness of the surrounding environment at all times to avoid accidents. Therefore, they can provide higher security than common headphones.

Bone conduction headset advantage two: more hygienic to use

Whether it's headphones or earbuds, covering your ears when using them can make your ears stuffy, which can lead to the growth of bacteria inside your ears. Especially when the ear canal is blocked, the inside will become humid and hot, and bacteria will grow more rapidly. Therefore, wearing in-ear headphones is also one of the important reasons for many young people's ear canal inflammation. What about bone conduction headphones? They don't cause these problems. Because they do not touch or cover the ears, they can keep the ears hygienic and clean.

Advantage three of bone conduction headphones: more healthy use

Bone conduction headphones do not need to be worn in the ear, so the injury caused by the headphone rubbing against the ear canal is avoided. Moreover, the vibration wave of them is smaller than that of ordinary headphones, and the damage to hair cells in the ear can be reduced by about 80%. Therefore, bone conduction headphones are more ear-friendly and healthier to wear than ordinary headphones.

Of course, bone conduction headphones are not 100% perfect, and they have drawbacks, such as their sound quality being difficult to achieve the effect of traditional noise-canceling headphones. They really release the ears, which also lose the "sound insulation" or noise reduction effect of traditional headphones, so in extremely noisy environments, it will be difficult for bone conduction headphones to transmit sound to your inner ear. However, the sound quality of them has improved a lot compared to the previous two years with technological progress. Some mainstream brands like wissonly and aftershokz have excellent sound quality.

In fact, bone conduction headphones are worth buying because they have a lot of advantages,they are safety,healthy,and hygienic.However, how to choose the right headphone is another problem.Here are some excellent bone conduction headphones for you. 

1, Wissonly Hi Runner bone conduction headphones

This is the fastest growing brand in the past six months. It may not be much famous, but in the field of bone conduction headphones they are proper technical experts. Their team began to develop bone conduction headphones that do not hurt the ear as early as 10 years ago. With an excellent bone conduction vibration unit optimization program, It became famous very soon in the field. It has been recommended by the majority of otologists!

Due to the particularity of the technical principle, bone conduction headphones are more difficult to be improved in sound quality. Wissonly Hi Runner team subverted the traditional sound quality scheme, made a breakthrough to use large wire-frame vibration unit. They through structural optimization improved the effective vibration area, thereby improved the vibrator sound efficiency, made the sound more shocking and powerful, they optimized the sound transmission direction, reduced the sound loss during sound transmission, and made the sound quality more concentrated. In terms of comfort, the overall body of the Hi Runner is made of high-tech hypoallergenic silicone material, which does not contain chemical components to avoid allergies. The overall feel is as silky as baby's skin, avoiding uncomfortable wearing for a long time.

In terms of functions, as the flagship model of Wissonly bone conduction headphones, Hi Runner has an IPX8 waterproof grade which is higher than the industry standard. It is equipped with 32G body memory, and uses the latest Bluetooth 5.0 chip, which makes the connection more stable. The battery life is also very good, lasts 8-10 hours of continuous playback at normal volume, and supports magnetic fast charging. It only takes 2 hours to fully charge.

2.Philips A6606 bone conduction headphones

Reason for recommendation:

The A6606 uses a titanium alloy frame. It is very stable to wear during running and has less shifting, helping you to exercise without feeling weight. The unique way of transmitting sound of bone conduction headphones bypasses the air, reduces noises, but is most afraid of having stethoscope effect. The A6606 is designed so that the frame of the headphones does not touch the back of the head, avoiding the "stethoscope effect" during exercise, so you can hear more precise and clear sound details.

3 AfterShokz OPENRUN PRO bone conduction headphones

Reason for recommendation:

Openrun Pro are ear mounted style headphones. But thanks to the lightweight materials such as titanium alloy used in the basic frame of the headphones, the overall weight of the headphones is only 26g, and there is no feeling of weight when worn. It is worth mentioning that the headphones have an IP67 waterproof and dustproof grade, and that they can be washed and rinsed with water. In addition to benefiting from the plating process on its surface, of course, also because of the overall body design, Openrun Pro have better waterproof characteristics. In addition, they also uses dual silicon microphones. In the right side of the headphones, you can see the microphone cut-out reserved for the microphone. With CVC's noise reduction algorithm, they can effectively eliminate the impact to calls in complex environments.

4 Earsopen BT5 bone conduction headphones

Reason for recommendation:

earsopen BT5 bone conduction headphones are originated in Japan and can play music continuously for up to 6 hours. They adopt IPX7 waterproof design, are not afraid of sweat in sports, and are very suitable for use in sports scenes. Their unique audio equalization technology and high-performance vibration unit support sound of different frequencies. BT5 have an echo reduction function to minimize echo.

5 Nank Runner CC3 bone conduction headphones

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.