What Are Real Bone Conduction Headphones and Can They Damage Hearing?
Bone conduction headphones are a new type of headphones, because they have many advantages that traditional headphones cannot match, so they are gaining the favor of a large number of users. But at the same time, some merchants sell fake bone conduction headphones in pursuit of short-term profits. So what are real bone conduction headphones? How should we tell the difference? let me tell you in the article.
What Are Real Bone Conduction Headphones?
Bone conduction headphone is a type of headphone that uses human bones as a sound transmission medium. They are generally ear-mounted, and the vibration unit is attached to the temple, and the vibration is transmitted to the inner ear through the skull, so that people can hear the sound. The fake bone conduction headphones are actually a kind of air conduction headphones that look like bone conduction headphones. They rely on two external speakers attached to the temples to produce sound, and then transmit the sound to the eardrum through the air, causing the eardrum to vibrate, and then to the eardrum, and the inner ear.
For real bone conduction headphones, their body has no openings and is generally an integrated body with a relatively high waterproof level. Since they rely on bone conduction sound, you can try to plug your ears after wearing them, and you will find that the sound of the real bone conduction headphones will be louder, while the sound of the fake ones will be significantly smaller. This is the easiest and most convenient way to distinguish between real and fake bone conduction headphones.
Can bone conduction headphones damage hearing?
Bone conduction headphones are usually less harmful to the ears, but if used for a long time and at excessive volume, hearing damage can occur.
Since bone conduction headphones do not need to be plugged into the ear canal when worn, they will not cause damage to the ear due to wearing them. They transmit sound without passing through the ear canal and eardrum, which avoids eardrum damage caused by vibrating the eardrum.
When the bone conduction headphones are used, the ear canal is kept open, which is important for the hygiene of the ear. And they will not cause the ear canal to be wet and stuffy to breed bacteria due to sweat depositing caused by long-term exercise, thereby avoiding the damage to the ear by diseases such as otitis media.
In addition to small damage to the ear canal and eardrum, bone conduction headphones also have very little damage to the inner ear. Due to the relatively gentle and stable vibrating waves of the headphones, they have little damage to the cochlea. Moreover, the electromagnetic waves of them are very small, and their impact on the auditory nerve and brain nerve is also very small.
Therefore, bone conduction headphones will not damage hearing, they protect hearing completely, from the ear canal, eardrum, cochlea to auditory nerves, etc..They are the healthiest kind of headphones.
For hearing protection, when using bone conduction headphones, remember not to use high volumes for a long time, which can cause damage to hearing. In fact, no matter what kind of headphones you wear, long-term use at high volume will definitely cause damage to hearing. It is generally recommended that after using headphones for 2-3 hours, you should rest for 10-15 minutes.
In addition to very little damage to the ears, bone conduction headphones are also very safe. They allow you to listen to music when you can also hear the surrounding environment sounds, which avoids outdoor sports encounters danger. And they are also very comfortable to wear. These advantages are determined by their working principles
The working principle of bone conduction headphones
The propagation medium of sound includes solid, liquid, and air. In general, there are two ways for sound waves to enter the inner ear of the human body: air conduction and bone conduction. It then travels to the inner ear via the auditory ossicles. Bone conduction is the vibration of sound waves through the bones of the head such as the skull and jaw, which transmits the sound to the inner ear. It is another very important hearing method besides air transmission. People use this method to manufacture many bone conduction hearing devices.
Traditional headphones mainly transmit sound through the air, while bone conduction headphones use the temporal bone of the head to transmit sound. It transmits sound directly to the auditory nerve in the form of sound waves, instead of passing through the air to the eardrum and then to our auditory nerve.
Currently, bone conduction hearing devices mainly include electromagnetic bone conduction headphones and piezoelectric bone conduction headphones. Electromagnetic bone conduction headphones have better working performance, but they have electromagnetic radiation, which is easy to cause harm to the user's body. Piezoelectric bone conduction headphones use piezoelectric vibrators as sounding components. When people wear it the human body is less affected by electromagnetic radiation which also has the advantages of small size and low power consumption.
There are more and more brands of Bluetooth bone conduction headphones in the market, so how to choose the right one?My suggestion is to pay attention to the two key points: sound quality and sound leakage reduction, and choose the brands with better technology accumulation.Here are five best bone conduction headphones for you all.
1. Wissonly Hi Runner bone conduction headphones
Recommended reason:
When Wissonly bone conduction headphones started crowdfunding online , I started to pay attention to them. Later, I saw on some online forums that all otologists were recommending them, so I bought it. This Wissonly Hi Runner is their flagship product, and its overall function is the most perfect. This headphone uses the latest research results of wissonly Lab. It effectively increases the vibration area of the vibrator by 35%, while optimizing the sound transmission direction, making the sound range wider and the music more spatial. The brand claims to reach the HI-FI sound quality. My own actual test shows that the sound quality is very close to the HI-FI level, but it doesn't reach this level indeed. 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, 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. What's more, it has 32G of built-in memory, which can store 5,000 songs, which allows you to enjoy music without your mobile phone when you are outdoors.
Wissonly performs well in terms of comfort. It's very light, less than 30g, and you don't even feel like you're carrying it when you wear it. The headphone body is made of titanium alloy, which makes it fit well. You don't need to worry about falling off during exercise.
The waterproof of Wissonly Hi Runner needs special mention. It reaches IPX8 grade, which means that you can carry it under water for 20 meters and still use it normally. This is crazy!
2. Philips A6606 bone conduction headphones
Recommended reason:
Philips A6606 adopts the rear hanging design of titanium alloy frame, which can be stable no matter jumping or running. Its surface is made of soft and skin-friendly silicone material, which makes it comfortable to wear, and the body of it is relatively light, so there is no sense of weight to wear. The biggest feature of A6606 is that its headphones are equipped with LED night lights, which is a thoughtful design for people who like fun runs, and can remind pedestrians, cyclists and drivers behind them to avoid it at night. Very suitable for night running.
3.AfterShokz OPENRUN PRO bone conduction headphones
Recommended reason:
The body of the Openrun Pro weighs only 26g, and it adopts Qualcomm QCC3024 low-energy chip +PremiumPitch 2.0 improved double suspension vibration transmission system and suspension damping technology, CVC call noise reduction algorithm and double silicon microphone. The battery life lasts for 8 hours, and the charging method is magnetic charging. The charging interface has a liquid residue detection function to ensure that it has a good waterproof performance. Its waterproof grade is IP67, and there is no problem with normal sweat. A short period of rain can be used, but it can't be used for swimming.
4.earsopen SS900 bone conduction headphones
Recommended reason:
The fuselage is equipped with BoCo's bone conduction vibrator technology, with AVV's precise vertical vibration transmission technology. It has good lower potential and a wide sound range in low-frequency performance. The Bluetooth version of 5.2 helps it to maintain the stability of the connection within 10m. The weight of the body is 8g,it is light when clipping to the ear, but the wear method of the ear clip is not suitable for long-term wear.
5.Haylou PurFree bone conduction headphones
Recommended reason:
Good experience, its weight is very light, weighing only 28g, and its open ear design is very safe and hygienic, which can protect the health of the ear canal . The silica gel material of its body is very comfortable, and it can be bent at will. The frame of aviation grade memory titanium wire will not be deformed, and make its service life very long.
Its IP67 waterproof grade, except when you sweat during exercise, you are not afraid of damage when you rush with water. And the charging interface adopts water-proof magnetic charging, so there's no need to worry about water coming into the charging interface. It should be noted that it can't be used in swimming.
There will be a little sound leakage, which may be one of its shortcomings.
Among the above five bone conduction earphones, Wissonly and Philips are most recommended. These two brands have the strongest technical strength and the best product quality. Among the two brands, Wissonly will have a higher cost performance and worth buying.