How Does Bone Conduction Headphones Work and What Are Their Pros and Cons？

Bone conduction headphones are becoming popular among sports fans. We always see people wearing headphones that don't have to be tucked into their ears when they are running, riding, or working out. They looks cool, so what exactly is the working principle bone conduction headphones? What are their other characteristics?How about their pros and cons?

How do bone conduction headphones work?

Let's start with a story. Beethoven was a great composer, and he is still loved by many people with representatives such as "Fate Symphony", "Eroica Symphony ", "Ode of Joy Symphony " and so on. In fact, Beethoven suffered from hearing impairment in his later years. Even in this state, he continued to compose, which is a bit bizarre. How did he do it? When playing, Beethoven held his baton in his mouth and put the other side on the piano,and then hear the sound.. This was the earliest application case of bone conduction.

In Beethoven's case, the vibrations caused by the piano as a source of sound are transmitted through the baton to the jawbone on the side of the mouth, and then from the frontal bone to the inner ear, which eventually formed hearing.

You may have found that the entire sound transmission process was the participation of solids such as batons and bones, without the participation of air and the eardrum. This seems to be a little deviated from our daily cognition. If we look through the physics books in middle school, we could know that there are three mediums for sound transmission: namely air, liquid and solid. Human bones are solids, and of course, they can also act as a medium for transmitting sound.

With the above knowledge, it would be easy for us to understand how bone conduction headphones work.

Bone conduction headphones are a type of headphones manufactured by using bone conduction technology. Bone conduction is a sound conduction method with bones as the medium. It converts sound into mechanical vibrations of different frequencies to transmit sound waves through the human skull, bone labyrinth, inner ear lymph, spiral organ, and auditory center.

When they work, you only need to put the sound unit close to the temple, do not need to stuff them into the ear canal. They are good to the cleaning of the ear canal, and cause no harm to the eardrum.

The working principle and wearing method of bone conduction headphones bring many benefits。

What are the Pros of bone conduction headphones?

First of all, because they use the principle of bone conduction to transmit sound instead of air conduction, most bone conduction headphones do not affect the acquisition of ambient sound by both ears when used. Therefore, it is very safe when you use it outdoors, and you will not ignore the possible dangers because you are immersed in the music when wearing it.

Secondly, because most of the them are close to the hard bone position (beside the ear), instead of directly blocking the ear canal like in-ear headphones, or clamping the soft tissue of the ear like clip-on headphones.After wearing bone conduction headphones for a long time,ear damage cause of Headphones is much less than in-ear headphones or clip-on headphones. For example, if you wear them for four hours, clip-on headphones may cause your ears to hurt unbearably, but even if you wear bone conduction headphones for a long time, you will basically feel nothing. Therefore, they are very comfortable to wear.

On top of that, common headphones can clog the ear canal, leading to the growth of a lot of bacteria that can lead to ear infections. Bone conduction headphones do not have these effects because they do not need to be worn in the ear, and they will not rub against the external auditory canal when worn. So they are more suitable for people with oily ears, otitis media, small ears, and some people with sensitive ears because they do not need to be inserted into the ears. They are also more suitable for people who need to wear headphones for a long time. Therefore, bone conduction headphones are very healthy.

Bone conduction headphones have relatively little hearing damage, because hearing damage generally occurs in the eardrum and inner ear, while bone conduction headphones directly bypass the eardrum to avoid eardrum damage. Moreover, the vibration waves of them are relatively moderate, and the impact on auditory hair cells will be less, so the damage to hearing caused by them is minimal. For these reasons, bone conduction headphones have become very popular these years.

Of course, bone conduction headphones are not perfect, and they have their drawbacks.

What are the Cons of bone conduction headphones?

The first con is that the sound quality is not as good as traditional headphones because of its wearing method. Due to its design characteristics, the anti-interference effect is not ideal in noisy environments such as shopping, taking the subway, and taking a car. Because it is transmitted to the ear ossicles through the skin and skull, so their degree of music reproduction is not as good as traditional in-ear headphones.

The second con is that the phenomenon of sound leakage still needs to be overcome. If there is a common problem with bone conduction headphones, it is the problem of sound leakage. Although major manufacturers are trying to improve the sound leakage, judging from the actual status, sound leakage still exists in the headphones. Of course, mainstream bone conduction headphone brands, such as wissonly and Aftershokz, have made a lot of efforts to improve the sound leakage of bone conduction headphones, and have almost solved the sound leakage problem.

Of course, in the past two years, the technology in the field of bone conduction headphones has made great progress, and some of the disadvantages mentioned above have been greatly improved, such as the sound quality and the reduction of sound leakage.Now I will recommend some good bone conduction headphones.

1. wissonly Hi Runner bone conduction headphones

Reason for recommendation:

Wissonly bone conduction headphones are recognized by the market with its leading bone conduction vibrator technology. Their team has accumulated more than 10 years in the field of bone conduction technology, which has been affirmed in terms of product quality and hearing protection effect.

Wissonly Hi Runner uses a large-size bone conduction vibrator, which increases the vibration area by 35%. When you wear it, the diffusion direction of sound quality will be more comprehensive, the coverage will be wider, and the sound will be more stereo. Its sound will be deeper in low frequency and more transparent in high frequency. They have also made a lot of efforts in the technology of sound leakage reduction, including the built-in reverse sound wave system and the all-closed-body design, thus reducing the sound leakage by 90%.

It is comfort: Wissonly Hi Runner's whole body is made of high-tech and low-sensitivity silicone, which contains no chemical components to avoid allergy. The overall touch is as silky as baby's skin, which can avoid uncomfortable situations when worn for a long time.

Wissonly Hi Runner bone conduction Bluetooth headphones are also equipped with a new Bluetooth 5.0 chip, which has stronger anti-interference ability, and can easily cope with various outdoor complex scenes, so as to ensure that the good mood during exercise will not be disturbed by disconnection. The stable connection also brings ultra-low delay performance. Listening to songs, chasing dramas and playing games meet all the daily demands for headphones.

2. Philips A6606 bone conduction headphones

Recommended reason:

In terms of appearance, A6606 adopt a simple and solid color design. Except for the logo at the end of the ear hook, there is no unnecessary decoration. The overall sense is very strong, and they visually give people a simple sense of technology. They feel quite good to wear, neither compressing the head and cervical vertebrae nor messing up the hair. A6606 do not need to be worn into the ears. They do not hurt the eardrum during long-term wearing ,and they will not cause you sweat during exercise, and are comfortable and breathable. In addition, their IP67 dustproof and waterproof rating, 9-hour battery life, Bluetooth 5.2 and other features make the bone conduction headphones a good choice.

3.AfterShokz OPENRUN PRO bone conduction headphones

Recommended reason:

It has improved the sound quality and sound leakage reduction, and can connect two Bluetooth devices at the same time.Duo to its ergonomic ear-sticking design,it has high wearing comfort. There are two sizes, 16.2cm and 18.7cm. Girls suggest the mini version.

4.earsopen SS900 bone conduction headphones

Recommended reason:

This bone conduction headphone adopts the ear-clipping mode, and the novel wearing mode also makes it need to be worn with both hands. Moreover, there will be obvious discomfort of ear-clipping when worn for a long time. In the headphones’ body, the pressure control area is adopted, and the headphones can be controlled by clicking and double-clicking, etc. The single ear part weight of 8g basically has no weight sense during wearing. With the bone conduction vibrator technology newly developed by BoCo Company, it has a good performance in the low frequency range, but it has obvious sound leakage in the middle and high frequencies.

5.Nank Runner CC3 bone conduction headphones

Recommended reason:

Runner CC2 has a solid button area on the outside, which is very convenient to use. The surface of the headphone body is made of soft material, which makes it very comfortable to be attached to the ear. It is really stable to wear with the ear-hanging scheme, supports Bluetooth 5.0, and the earphone signal is very stable during use. The sound quality is quite satisfactory, and the sense of music rhythm and space is well controlled.

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.