Bone Conduction

What are Bone Conduction Headphones?

Bone conduction headphones transmit sound through the bones of your skull rather than through your ear canal like traditional headphones. The headphones have transducers that rest on your cheekbones and vibrate to produce sound waves. These vibrations travel through your facial bones and skull directly to your inner ear, bypassing the eardrum entirely.

How Do They Work?

The transducers on bone conduction headphones contain a magnet and a coil. Electrical signals from the audio source cause the coil to vibrate. This vibration is then transferred to the cheekbones, propagating through the bones to your inner ear. The cochlea in the inner ear then converts these bone vibrations into nerve signals that your brain interprets as sound.

Key Benefits

    • Leaves ears open to hear ambient sounds for safety/awareness

    • Won’t interfere with earplugs or hearing aids like traditional headphones

    • Allows those with hearing loss to perceive stereo sound

    • Can be used underwater

Drawbacks

    • Sound quality not as good as traditional headphones

    • Can cause discomfort on cheekbones with prolonged use

    • Makes your own voice sound different

    • Leaks sound that others can hear

Popular Models

Shokz, formerly AfterShokz, Creative, H20 Audio

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