What are the dangers of bone conduction headphones

Today I’m going to introduce a kind of black technology on the "headphones". If you think it is a Bluetooth headset, you are wrong. This is a very popular one recently - bone conduction headset. Does it sound unfamiliar? To put it simply, the sound is transmitted through the bones, which avoids the discomfort of wearing headphones, and also avoids the hygiene and health problems caused by sweating while exercising with headphones. At the same time, it also ensures the possibility of using headphones in dangerous scenarios. By opening both ears, you can pay attention to changes in the surrounding environment while using headphones. So are there any harms from such magical headphones?

Bone conduction headphones

Bone conduction is a method of sound conduction, which converts sound into mechanical vibrations of different frequencies and transmits sound waves through the human skull, bony labyrinth, inner ear lymph, spiral organ, auditory nerve, and auditory center. Compared with the classic sound conduction method that generates sound waves through a diaphragm, bone conduction eliminates many steps in sound wave transmission, can achieve clear sound restoration in a noisy environment, and the sound waves will not affect others due to diffusion in the air. Bone conduction technology is divided into bone conduction speaker technology and bone conduction microphone technology:

(1) Bone conduction speaker technology is used for receiving calls, which means listening to sounds. Air conduction speakers convert electrical signals into sound waves (vibration signals) and transmit them to the auditory nerve. Bone conduction speakers convert electrical signals into sound waves (vibration signals) that are transmitted directly to the auditory nerve through the bones. The transmission media of sound waves (vibration signals) are different.

(2) Bone conduction microphone technology is used to transmit voice, which means collecting sound. Air conduction is the transmission of sound waves to the microphone through the air, while bone conduction is the transmission of sound waves directly through the bones.

Headphones made using these bone conduction technologies are called bone conduction headphones, also known as bone conduction headphones, bone-sensing headphones, bone conduction headphones and bone sensing headphones.

Classification

Bone conduction headphones are divided into bone conduction speaker technology headphones and bone conduction microphone technology headphones. (I) Bone conduction speaker technology headphones:

The bone conduction technology is used to receive the sound, which is close to the bones. The sound waves are directly transmitted to the auditory nerve through the bones. Therefore, both ears can be opened without damaging the eardrum. In both military and civilian fields, the cheekbones of the face are generally used to directly transmit sound.

2. Bone conduction microphone technology headphones:

The sound is collected using bone conduction technology, where sound waves are transmitted through the bones to the microphone. In the civilian field, bone conduction technology is generally used to reduce noise.

Due to the needs of military scenarios, sometimes you cannot speak loudly, and the sound loss rate in bone conduction is much lower than that in air conduction. Bone conduction microphone technology headphones mainly use the throat bones for conduction. Due to the short distance, the loss is low. Soldiers only need to make a very small sound to accurately convey the instructions they want to express.

Summarize

In fact, bone conduction headphones do not have much impact on the eardrum or hearing. As long as they are worn correctly, there will be no problem. But if you still have doubts, don't use them. As I said before, if you care, don't use them. The emergence of products such as bone conduction headphones is to give everyone a better and safer experience!