What Is Bone Conduction Headphones and What Is The Harms of Them?

Bone conduction headphones are becoming more and more popular. You can see that many people wear a type of ear-hook headphones during running, cycling and exercise. These headphones are generally bone conduction earphones. In this article, I will introduce you in detail about " what is bone conduction earphones"," how do they work, and what is harms of them?"

What is Bone Conduction Headphones

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.

How do bone conduction headphones work?

The production of sound is a kind of vibration, and the sound source can cause air, liquid and solid to vibrate.

There are two main types of sound that we usually hear: air conduction sound and bone conduction sound. "Air conduction sound" means that the sound source vibrates and transmit to the ear through the air, and "bone-conducted sound" means that the sound source vibrates transmit to the ear through the bone.

Sounds such as human voices and TV sounds vibrate the air around you. The vibrations are collected by the pinna and transmitted through the ear canal to the eardrum. Sound transmitted to the eardrum is transmitted through the auditory ossicles to the inner ear, where the vibrations are converted into electrical vibrations that are recognized as sound. The sound we hear through this path is "air conduction sound".

"Bone conduction sound" does not pass through the pinna, external auditory canal (outer ear), or bone ossicles (middle ear). Instead, the sound source vibrates in resonance with the skull, and the skull vibrations are transmitted directly to the inner ear, where the vibrations are converted into electrical signals and perceived as sound. This is how bone conduction works.

Bone conduction headphones are headphones based on bone conduction sound transmission. When they work, they only need to attach the sound unit to the temple. The vibration of the sound source drives the vibration of the skull, and the skull transmits the vibration to the inner ear. The cochlea completes the perception of sound and transmits it. Give the auditory nerve and auditory center, and finally the cerebral cortex allows us to "hear" the sound after comprehensive analysis.

What is the harms of bone conduction headphones?

Conclusion first, bone conduction headphones are almost harmless, they are one of the healthiest headphones. I analyze the impact of bone conduction on hearing, the brain, bones, and other aspects.

The harm of bone conduction headphones 1: damage to hearing? rumor!

Bone conduction headphones damage hearing, this is a complete rumor! In fact, they can be said to be the headphones with the lowest hearing loss. They do not need to pass through the eardrum to transmit sound, and there is no damage to the eardrum. Their vibration waves are gentle and stable, and will not harm the cochlea.

The harm of bone conduction headphones 2: damage the brain? rumor!

Bone conduction headphones can damage the brain, another big rumor. It is believed that there are electromagnetic waves in the headphones, and electromagnetic waves will inevitably cause damage to the brain nerves. In fact, electromagnetic waves are ubiquitous in nature. Any electronic product has electromagnetic waves, and high-intensity electromagnetic waves will indeed cause damage to the auditory nerve and brain nerves. However, the electromagnetic waves of bone conduction headphones are very weak, which is comparable to the strength of electromagnetic waves that exist in nature, so they will not damage the brain.

The harm of bone conduction headphones 3: damage to bones? rumor!

They transmit sound by bone vibration, but the vibration intensity is so small that it will not damage the bone at all. At present, there is no record of any bone conduction headphones damaging bones.

The harm of bone conduction headphones 4: lead to temple pain? There are individual differences

Some people have mentioned that their temples are sore after wearing bone conduction headphones for a long time. This situation has a lot to do with the wearer's physique, mainly trigeminal neuralgia caused by the individual's physique.

Therefore, bone conduction headphones are not harmful to health, on the contrary, they are the healthiest headphones. They are also safer and more hygienic to use and more comfortable to wear, which is why they have become more and more popular in recent years.

If you are interested in them, please do not hesitate to buy them. They are definitely worth buying.Next, I will recommend some excellent bone conduction headphones.

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 A6606 bone conduction headphones

Reason for recommendation:

With IPX7 waterproof property, Philips A6606 can be soaked in water for a short time, and has good waterproof performance. At the same time, surprisingly, LED night run lamps are arranged at both ends of the fuselage, which can light up the rear road at night, thus ensuring its own safety factor. The unique bone conduction vibrator makes its sound quality good, and the double shrapnel structure can reduce the distortion. However, when playing high-frequency sound, there will be obvious vibration. If you can accept the vibration of medium and high frequency, it is also good.

3.AfterShokz OPENRUN PRO bone conduction headphones

Reason for recommendation:

OPENRUN PRO is very light, and its surface material is soft and skin-friendly, so it is comfortable to wear. Its slim body and unique color scheme make it look flattering as well. Its sound quality is also quite good, and it performs very well in terms of anti-sound-leakage, even in outdoor use, you don't have to worry about privacy leakage at all. It is very powerful, very user-friendly. In addition to being slightly expensive, it is also a recommended headphones overall.

4.Earsopen peace tw-1 bone conduction headphones

Reason for recommendation:

PEACE TW-1 bone conduction headphone is a Japanese high -end headphone product. It is a rare ear-clip headphone on the market. It is directly clipped to the outer ear and worn just like wearing jewelry. Because the weight of its single body is only 8g, even if it is worn by ear clip, there will be no sense of weight bearing. After all, the weight of many earrings also reaches 8g. Of course, there will still be some discomfort when it is worn for a long time.

It adopts Bluetooth 5.0 technology, and the Bluetooth connection is more stable, with few disconnection cases. The sound quality and leak-proof treatment is good, and it is excellent for bone conduction headphones. The only drawback is that the price is a little high. After all, it is positioned as a high-end brand.

5.Haylou PurFree bone conduction headphones

Reason for recommendation:

Its body surface is made of silicone material, which is very comfortable. The small size body is its relatively big advantage, which makes it light and without a sense of weight while wearing. The sound quality is good in the field bone conduction headphones, of course, it cannot be compared with traditional noise-canceling headphones. The battery life is good, you can listen to music for 8 hours, and it also supports fast charging.

In terms of waterproof feature, its waterproof grade reaches IP67, daily sweating, short-term rain, or washing are all no problem to it, but it cannot be used in swimming.

If you are still confused about how to choose bone conduction headphones, I suggest you choose Wissonly or Aftershokz. Their R&D teams have more than 10 years of technical experience in this field, which makes their products perform well in terms of sound quality and sound leakage reduction. If you consider the cost performance ratio, it is recommended to choose Wissonly.