Under normal environmental conditions, there are two ways of sound transmission, one is through the air, and the other is through a certain medium. The traditional headphones we use mainly transmit sound through the air, while bone conduction headphones use a certain medium (the temporal bone of the head) to spread the sound, and finally transmit the sound directly to the auditory nerve in the form of sound waves, instead of passing the air to the eardrum first, and then to our auditory nerve.

In fact, there are quite a lot instances in life. For example, when we brush our teeth or chew food, we feel that the sound is loud, but we cannot hear the sound of others chewing. In fact, the sound is directly transmitted to us through the bones. The auditory nerve is not transmitted to our ears through the air. In this way, everyone should understand the principle of bone conduction better.

What are the advantages of bone conduction headphones in sports headphones?

1. Listen with open ears and be safer

The principle of bone conduction determines that bone conduction sports earphones do not need to transmit sound through the ear canal, so there is no need to cover the ears or block the ear canal to achieve the purpose of listening like traditional earphones, so “open ear listening” has become One of the most praised advantages of bone conduction headphones.

Specifically, these advantages also play a big role in sports scenes. For example, when you use bone conduction headphones to listen to music, you can also hear the sound of the environment around you, so that users will not be “earblind” during exercise, especially during outdoor sports, “open ear listening” can avoid some The occurrence of dangerous situations is also the most respectable advantage of bone conduction headphones.

2. Open both ears, it’s more comfortable and healthy

Due to the “open ear” feature of bone conduction sports headphones, it also brings some health benefits. Because bone conduction earphones do not need to put earplugs in human ears, it can keep the inside of the ear canal clean and hygienic. At the same time, the surface of bone conduction earphones is smooth and easy to clean, while traditional air conduction earphones are prone to deposit bacteria. Therefore, bone conduction Earphones are also very helpful to the health of the ears.

On the contrary, traditional earphones often need to put earplugs into the ear canal. The air in the ear is blocked, the sweat secreted and the house is not easy to clean, and bacteria will grow over time. In severe cases, it will cause ear diseases such as otitis or otitis media. In severe cases, hearing may even be affected. In addition, traditional earphones also have certain electromagnetic waves, which have a certain influence on human brain and hearing nerves, while bone conduction earphones do not produce electromagnetic waves.

3. Get rid of the “stethoscope” effect

When we exercise, listening to music can effectively relax our body and mind and achieve better exercise effects, but ordinary wired earphones will transmit the sound of friction and collision to the ears through the earphone cable during exercise, which is what we often say “Stethoscope effect”, and bone conduction headphones avoid this problem and give people a better sports music environment. Of course, if you want to completely get rid of the interference of “authentication sounds”, true wireless Bluetooth headsets are the most ideal choice.

4. Lightweight and portable, suitable for sports

Bone conduction headphones are generally very small in size and light in weight, so they are more suitable for sports scenes than sports headphones.

5.Bone conduction is more inherently waterproof in terms of structural tightness

Although bone conduction is slightly inadequate in terms of diversity, the inherent advantages of bone conduction cannot be ignored in terms of structural waterproofing. The current bone conduction earphones can have no openings and can be sealed all over, but in-ear earphones cannot do it, because the sound quality will be reduced by more than half if the speaker is sealed. Therefore, bone conduction headphones have more advantages in terms of waterproof performance, and can even be worn while swimming. Of course, some in-ear sports headphones of professional brands such as mifo, Jabra, and JBL can also be submersible-level waterproof, but this is only relying on technologies such as waterproof earmuffs and material waterproof coating. This pair of processes The difficulty and cost will be greatly increased.

Then,What are the shortcomings of bone conduction sports headphones?

1. The sound quality is not as good as in-ear earphones

The main positioning of bone conduction headphones has always been “sports headphones”, which not only shows its advantages in sports scenes, but also shows that the sound quality of bone conduction headphones does not reach the level of daily listening headphones (at the same price). , For example, the phenomenon of insufficient bass and sound leakage still exists. Secondly, compared with wired headphones of the same price, they do not have the price advantage. Therefore, people will only use bone conduction headphones in specific scenarios such as sports.

2. 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 currently working hard to improve the lack of sound leakage of bone conduction headphones, judging from the current actual situation of bone conduction headphones, the phenomenon of sound leakage still exists in bone conduction headphones, but the sound leakage situation is more than before. It’s not bad to listen to music occasionally in a quiet environment.

From a technical point of view, bone conduction headphones are not actually a “black technology” product, but a cross-border attempt of mature technology in a brand new field. The emergence of bone conduction sports headphones also provides people with music in sports. There is another option. At the same time, the “open binaural” characteristics of bone conduction headphones are also very suitable for sports scenes. As the industry continues to overcome some of the shortcomings of its products, the market for bone conduction headphones has become larger and larger and has achieved explosive growth.