What is Wireless Bone Conduction Headphones and How About Their Disadvantages?

From the earliest wired headphones to Bluetooth headphones, headphones have almost become an indispensable item for young people. This year, it became popular to wear wireless bone conduction headphones. They are a new product,so people will always have various questions. Such as "What is wireless bone conduction headphones","Do their have disadvantages?"

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 wireless bone conduction headphones, making this headphone a fashionable product and becoming popular.

Bone conduction headphones are an application of bone conduction technology in the field of headphones. It transmits sound through the skull, without going through the external auditory canal and eardrum, which is very good for the ear.

The sound transmission path of wireless bone conduction headphones is "sound wave-skull-bone labyrinth-inner ear lymph fluid-spiral organ-auditory nerve-cerebral cortex auditory center".

Common headphones are air-conduction headphones, which need to conduct sound through the air in the ear canal. Its sound transmission path is "air-external auditory canal-tympanic membrane-ear ossicles-internal auditory canal-cochlea-auditory nerve".

There is a little experiment to better understand how bone conduction works. First, plug the ears with two cotton balls, take a tuning fork, and tap it several times with a rubber hammer to make the tuning fork vibrate. It vibrates so softly that your ears can't hear it at this time. But pressing the end of the tuning fork handle against your frontal bone, skull bone, and cheekbone can make you hear the vibration of the tuning fork. Once the tuning fork handle is out of contact, the sound disappears immediately. This is because the sound of the tuning fork is transmitted through the bones of the human body.

1. The sound quality is slightly worse than traditional headphones

To be honest, the sound quality of wireless bone conduction headphones is slightly worse than that of traditional noise-canceling headphones, and it is not noise-canceling headphones. With the continuous improvement of technology, although it cannot be said that the sound quality is already excellent, at least it can be heard that it has improved from generation to generation. Whether it is human voices or musical instruments, all are very clear. It is more than needs for listening to music while running. Especially in the past year, the sound quality of the products has improved rapidly. Some leading brands, such as wissonly and aftershokz, have sound quality very close to traditional headphones.

2. Sound leakage

Because the sounding principle of wireless bone conduction headphones is that the vibration unit emits mechanical vibrations, which cause bone vibrations and transmit them to the cochlea. When the sound unit vibrates the bones, it also inevitably vibrates the air, resulting in sound leakage. The sound leakage problem of them is a common phenomenon. Almost all of them have sound leakage problems. It’s just that some good bone conduction headphones have been optimized in structure and algorithm, which has greatly improved the problem of sound leakage.

3. It is uncomfortable to wear for a long time

As mentioned above, the wireless bone conduction earphones emit sound through the vibration unit. When you wear it, the vibration unit is close to the temple, and there will inevitably be a little vibration sense. Wearing it for a long time may make the area around the temple uncomfortable. Therefore, it is generally not recommended to wear it continuously for more than 4 hours. It should be noted that listening to music for a long time is not very good for the ears, no matter what headphones you wear.

4. The price is slightly higher

Qualified wireless bone conduction headphones must solve problems such as sound leakage, sound quality, and wearing comfort. A lot of costs will be invested in technology, materials, and manufacturing processes, which also makes the price of them a little more expensive than ordinary earphones. But this year, with the rapid popularity of bone conduction headphones, after a substantial increase in production, prices have also dropped significantly.

The above are some disadvantages of wireless bone conduction headphones, some are common to all headphones, and some are unique to them. Although some shortcomings cannot be concealed,but they are some advantages of them such as less damage to hearing, safer outdoor use, and the ability to keep the ear canal clean and reduce bacterial growth, have made bone conduction headphones more and more popular.

In contrast, the advantages of wireless bone conduction headphones are more than the disadvantages. What's more, with the efforts of the whole industry, many disadvantages of them have been greatly improved. The new products in the last six months have greatly improved in terms of sound quality improvement, sound leakage reduction and comfort.Therefore, these products are worth buying.Next, I will recommend some better 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!

Reason for recommendation:

Philips A6606 adopts the latest generation of exterior design, which strengthens water resistance and slip resistance during sports for a more stable fit. The surface of its body uses skin-friendly materials, which will be more comfortable to wear. The body is also relatively light, and there is no sense of weight when wearing. It also has a night running indicator to ensure that the cyclist or vehicle behind you can see you during night running, thus you can avoid danger. From a configuration point of view, the configuration of this product may not be very high, but Philips' quality is trustworthy. The price may be slightly expensive.

Reason for recommendation:

All-weather sports companionship. The body weight of Afershokz Openrun Pro headphones is only 26 grams, but it has up to 8 hours of long battery life. It supports IP67 super standard waterproof grade, is not afraid of sweat and rain, and not afraid of the challenges brought by bad weather. It is a trustworthy all-weather running headphones. However, it is not professional-grade waterproof after all, and it is not suitable for swimming and diving, so you must consider it clearly before purchasing.

Reason for recommendation:

Unlike other bone conduction headphones, 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.

Reason for recommendation:

Since the body of the runner CC3 is made of silicone material in the part that fits the skin, wearing it has a feeling of summer coldness, which can fully stimulate the fans of sports.

Its sound quality is not a big problem, and it has built-in 4G storage, which can store 1000 songs. And you could enjoy music in places when meet poor phone signal. The wearing comfort and stability are not bad.

It is that the waterproof level is not high enough, and it is not suitable for rain or water sports.

Now, let's make an order for the above five bone conduction earphones: Wissonly Hi Runner>Aftershokz OPENRUN PRO>Philips A6606>Earsopen PEACE>Nank Runner CC3 .The performance and parameters of Wissonly are the best, and it is also the most cost-effective.