If you happen to’ve been on the hunt for a brand new pair of earbuds or headphones, you’ve certainly come throughout a novel expertise referred to as bone conduction. Providing an alternative choice to the normal means that headphones and earbuds ship sound to your eardrums, the tech makes use of vibrations by your individual jawbone and cranium as a substitute.
That’s clearly a reasonably primary description, and we’ll develop on it under, however bone-conduction headphones, and the best way they sit exterior the ear, are a wonderful answer for customers reminiscent of runners, swimmers, and cyclists who need to have the ability to take pleasure in music whereas nonetheless listening to potential hazards round them.
However bone-conduction headphones are usually a little bit of an outlier within the better world of wearable audio merchandise. One main cause is that there are simply not as many firms producing them, however they’re additionally fairly distinctive relating to each match and efficiency. Did you ever assume you’d find out about headphones that don’t even want your ears? Effectively, it’s time to get schooled, pals, and find out about how bone conduction works.
Welcome to your ears (and mind)
In an effort to greatest perceive how bone conduction headphones produce sound, we also needs to discover the science behind a conventional set of headphones (or earbuds) and the totally different components of our ears. And to greatest perceive that course of, we also needs to clarify how audio drivers and audio system work normally.
Audio system have one very primary job: to push and pull air to provide vibrations. These vibrations are transformed to airborne stress waves (maybe higher often called sound waves), which our ears detect as sound. The method of deciphering these waves is dealt with by our eardrums and different components of the inside ear. After passing by the outer and center sections of the ear canal, the waves knock on the cochlea’s door. For these unaware, the cochlea is a snail-shaped construction in our inside ear that converts sound waves into electrical impulses, that are decoded by our brains as “sound.”
With conventional headphones, getting these vibrations into electrical alerts requires the participation of each a part of the ear canal, from the eardrum to the cochlea. However is there a method to get vibrations to the cochlea with out pestering our eardrums? Sure — by the bones in our heads.
Puppeteering your cranium: The science of bone conduction
Imagine it or not, you don’t really want the outer and center components of your ear to listen to sound, since you’re not technically “listening to” something. Keep in mind: it’s our mind that turns stress waves into audible sound.
If you happen to’ve ever seen a pair of bone-conduction headphones, you’ll discover that they’ve transducers (the half that produces stress waves) that sit proper subsequent to the ears as a substitute of over the ear canal like conventional headphones. Shokz, one of many leaders on this expertise, explains its tech rather well on its web site, however the fundamentals of it are that the transducers “ship vibrations by the cheekbones and ship sound on to the inside ear.” This fast A-to-B course of fully bypasses most components of our ear canal, short-cutting these stress waves on to our cochlea.
It’s science at its harmonious greatest, however what are bone conduction headphones greatest used for, and which manufacturers make the most effective fashions? Let’s unpack each of those mysteries.
Bone conduction headphones for the win
Bone conduction headphones have lengthy been championed as a wonderful audio various for people that suffer from conductive listening to loss. You’ll have heard of cochlear implants. These wonderful listening to aids really operate in an analogous method to bone conduction headphones — they bypass most components of the ear canal and go straight for the cochlea. Bone conduction audio permits the listener to expertise sound even when components of the inside ear are compromised. And even when somebody is barely partially deaf, bone conduction audio lets the listener hear full stereo sound, whereas leaving the ear canals accessible for listening to aids.
Past medical help, bone conduction headphones are additionally excellent for fitness center goers who want a set of headphones that don’t require fixed changes. Most bone conduction headsets are geared up with a supportive band that wraps across the again of the pinnacle for stability, making them a lot tougher to budge than conventional headphones.
Even on a regular basis commuters and people of us working in chatter-filled work environments can profit from bone-conduction audio. You’ll be capable of go away your ears open to select up on important sounds, like oncoming site visitors, emergency automobiles, and very important water-cooler dialogue.
Bone conduction audio additionally helps to scale back the injury one can do by listening to music at extreme volumes utilizing conventional headphones. It is because the eardrum itself is much extra delicate to put on and tear from loud listening than your physique’s cranial bones.
What sorts of bone conduction headphones can you purchase?
For some time now, the bone conduction market has been cornered by one standout model:
Shokz (previously AfterShokz
). And actually, if we have been recommending a set of bone-conduction headphones, we’d level them proper towards this model. Not solely does Shokz have quite a few totally different fashions to select from, however the firm has been perfecting its engineering for greater than 10 years. Flagship merchandise just like the Shokz OpenRun Professional even supply a companion app for iOS and Android that permits you to customise your listening expertise and arrange Bluetooth multipoint for fast switching between your units.
You’ll additionally be capable of discover a number of different social gathering firms that make strong bone-conduction headphones. When buying, although, make sure to rigorously learn no matter person evaluations can be found.
Audiophiles be warned
Bone conduction headphones are actually outstanding in additional methods than one, but when your primary concern is sound high quality in your headphones or earbuds, don’t look to bone conduction. To place it merely, bone conduction headphones are simply not designed for superior hi-fi listening. Positive, spending a couple of {dollars} extra on a flagship set of Shokz over the essential mannequin could get you barely higher audio, however no bone conduction headset goes to come back near the sorts of prolific sound you may anticipate from manufacturers like Sony, Bose, and Apple.
Moreover, due to the best way the tech works, bone-conduction headphones simply aren’t as loud as conventional headphones, and once they’re cranked up as loud as they go (which we don’t advocate), the extra-pronounced vibrations could make your head really feel a little bit bizarre.
Nonetheless, when you’re the athletic sort looking for a set of headphones to give you the motivational music you want whereas having the ability to hear that bus screeching simply meters away, otherwise you like to have the ability to pay attention to what’s happening within the workplace whilst you file your TPS studies (Workplace House reference, y’all), then bone conduction headphones could be a superb possibility for you.
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