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Has anyone here tried bone conduction headphones?
I just found out that bone conduction headphones exist, and I’m admittedly intrigued.
I usually wear only one earbud because I like to still be able to hear my surroundings (transparency mode doesn’t feel the same to me). My husband feels similarly and also hates the feeling of in-ear buds. So a pair of two of these might work nicely for us.
Does anyone have any hands heads on experience with them (any make/model)?
Would you recommend them?
How is the sound quality?
Are they comfortable to wear?
How do they compare to standard headphones?
I was in the same boat as you—very intrigued by the concept. The idea of having my ears completely open to my surroundings while still listening to music or a podcast. I bought a pair of Aftershokz (now called Shokz) headphones to try them out.
Situational Awareness: This is the main selling point, and it absolutely delivers. It's not like transparency mode on other earbuds, which can sometimes sound artificial.
No Ear Fatigue: There's nothing in your ear canal, so there's none of that pressure or discomfort that can come from in-ear buds after a while. They just rest on your cheekbones in front of your ears.
Comfort (Long-Term): While they were fine for a 30-minute walk, I found that after an hour or so, the constant pressure from the pads on my cheekbones and the subtle vibration started to give me a unique kind of tension headache. It wasn't a sharp pain, but a dull, persistent ache that would linger even after I took them off. This is obviously a very personal thing—many people use them for hours with no issue—but for me, it was a consistent problem.
Sound Quality: It's okay, but you have to manage your expectations. Because they work by vibrating your bones, the sound, especially bass, is significantly weaker and less rich than what you'd get from traditional headphones. For podcasts and audiobooks, they're perfectly fine. For music, it can sound a bit thin and lacking in depth. If you're an audiophile, you will likely be disappointed.
Would I Recommend Them?
It's a qualified "maybe." I would recommend them to someone who:
For my personal use case, the headaches were a dealbreaker. I went back to just using a single Sennheiser earbud, which for me is the perfect compromise. I still have one ear totally free to hear my surroundings, but I get better sound quality and no head pressure.
I have a pair of Shokz Open Run Pro. I'm generally quite happy with them. I use them exclusively when running to listen to music and podcasts. I find them to be loud enough (at 80-90% volume) and tested them with my wife indoors and she couldn't really hear what I was listening to unless she got really close.
I mainly got them as my regular earpods always fell out when I was running and I wanted to be able to hear my surroundings. The proprietary charger is a bit annoying, but they usually charge pretty fast and last me ~5-6 10km runs before they report the battery as low. (~4.5-5.5 hrs). They'd probably last longer indoors as you wouldn't need to turn them up as much.
I'd say the only real negative for me is that I should have gotten the smaller size, the normal ones are slightly too big for me so I occasionally need to push them back.
To clarify, I definitely prefer other headphones for sound quality when sitting at a desk etc. I've only used them a few times for non-running situations. I'd say give it a shot, you can always return them?
I have the Pro 2 model. My husband bought a pair for himself and was ecstatic about it, and then a short while later they had a direct manufacturer sale on them so he bought another pair for himself in a color he liked better and gave me his old ones. The newer version has USB-C on it. It also has a second driver on it to give it a fuller sound stage, which is pretty impressive, but it may have also been in the previous iteration as well.
I also have a fit problem, but in my case it catches on my neckfat when I look up and the drivers dig into my ear nubs.
I also agree with you for the use case scenario. I consider it to be basically useless for scenarios outside of running or biking; situations where you'd want specifically to be aware of the world around you, but still be able to listen to music without bugging the people around you. Otherwise it's better to have something that will at least block out some of the outside world. Funny enough, my husband was gifted an Airpods Pro 2, the same kind as I bought for myself to use regularly, and he now uses them for everything.
Actually, there is one more scenario where I'd find it useful when other headphones are not, and that is sleeping. If you're trying to fall asleep to a podcast or white noise or the like and don't want to disturb your partner. Even with it hitting the back of my ear from the loop being pushed by the pillow, I'd still say they were more comfortable than headphones or earbuds in that specific scenario.
Another vote for the open run 2. My son has the originals so when I re started my running, I got the upgraded model and they’re so impressive to me.
I never got on with actual bone conductors, strange sounding things, but these open run 2 are super impressive.
I got these sleep earbuds and am pretty happy with them. I use them with a bluetooth adapter, but they are super tiny and don't dig into my ears if I roll over.
I have these as well and really like them. I generally wear them running and while walking the dog to be more aware of my surroundings. The only time the experience isn't great is when I get near a busy road. It can be pretty hard to hear a podcast clearly over road noise, but that only accounts for like 2% of the time I'm wearing them. Their sound reproduction for voice is pretty good so podcasts and audiobooks are clear.
I can usually wear them for a few hours and often forget I have them on if I paused what I was listening to. I do occasionally get some irritation at high volume after a couple hours of listening. I think the small vibrations are enough to irritate the skin wear they rest if I need them at high volume for some reason.
I have not enjoyed using them at the gym. It's usually too loud between the overhead music and background noise to actually hear what I'm listening to. So that's one use case they don't work for.
I do like them around the house occasionally too. I'll wear them while doing quite chores or cooking if I still need to be able to intermittently hold a conversation with my spouse. They're easy to pause and unpause by scrunching the side of my head into my shoulder to hit the pause/play button. Great if I've got food and stuff on my hands since I don't need to touch them to pause them. The mic is apparently decent enough to talk on if I've gotten a call while using them too.
I have a pretty wide variety of earbuds and headphones that I use for different occasions and I'm definitely very happy to have a pair of bone conducting headphones to reach for.
I have the aftershokz something or another. They do what they say on the tin, but ultimately I don't use them very often anymore.
The sound is mid. It's fairly tinny, and not much base (probably for the best - base through your cheekbone isn't the best idea). Fine for podcasts, OK for music.
The main two reasons I stopped using them very much is 1) they aren't very loud, and of course your ear is completely open. That means that even if I'm just jogging next to a road, it can be hard to hear what I'm playing. If I put them on max volume, they actually kinda physically hurt due to the strength of vibration.
Two is that they had a unusual port - they're waterproof, so use magnetic induction charging - which was slightly annoying when pretty much everything else I have is USB-C at the time. I still use them for long hikes.
Overall, they're useful when you want to have your ears completely open and still have some audio playing, or have an extreme dislike for traditional ear plugs.
Audio quality is low, no bass. Great transparency and much easier to pull the headphones down for a conversation. No ear pressure like in ears and generally feel more grounded to what’s happening around me. Fine for going out and being around people. Terrible if you’re looking for noise cancellation or good sound quality. I prefer them for phone calls.
I think they’re fine for their intended use. Obviously bad for things like airplanes. You can wear ear plugs and they’ll still work if you really want to stretch your dollar.
I do recommend them for an ear plug + conduction headphone combo if you're in a party town... this combo saved me several sleepless nights when we accidentally got a room basically upstairs from a bar in a snowboard town.
Unfortunately there's no bass because bone conduction simply can't carry those frequencies. Audiologists often use bone conduction for hearing tests, but they never use it for bass frequencies.
I used to have some, of what brand I do not remember. I and my wife found them irritating to be around as you can generally hear what people are listening to, and I don’t think we have super hearing. I haven’t found that to be the case with AirPod pros for comparison. The sound quality as a user was fine though.
I'm also a one-earbud-er. I tried one of the bone conduction headphones for a while and they generally were fine audio-wise but the problem I ran into is that most of them aren't adjustable at all. I guess I have a big head as the ones I got barely fit me. If I looked up/down I'd get one of them covering my ear or pulling free, then eventually the things snapped. Granted, I got a cheap one as I wasn't sure about the bone conduction thing, but even looking at expensive ones I had trouble finding ones that are adjustable.
I have a cheap model that is no longer available on Amazon. I use them for listening to audiobooks and very casually listening to music while doing quiet chores. Also, exercising where the music is there to get me in the groove to move, rather than to be fully listened to. The sound quality you're going to get will vary by brand and quality/price. My coworker swears by her Shokz but I think it might depend on the model. Mine are mostly garbage but they're fine for my purposes and they're resilient.
They are comfortable to wear for several hours at a time. I find that my ear... junction? gets sore from the vibration more than from wearing the headphones themselves. I also wear glasses, so there are a few pressure areas to take into account. I've heard they can contribute to ear wax compaction so that could be something to consider.
Mine have some sound leakage according to my partner. However, he says he can't really understand what's being listened to. I'm not sure if that's because it's transmitting vibrations or if it's because I listen to my audiobooks at 3x speed. Perception of exterior sound can be a bit wonky when you're wearing them, but you'll generally hear stuff you're going to need to hear, like traffic noise. Mine are generally very secure on my head.
Overall, I recommend them for: best feeling of safety when moving outside relative to other available types of headphones; casual listeners where your comfort is more important than sound quality.
Lots of other great posts here, not sure if this was mentioned but one thing to keep in mind about the shokz openrun pros... If you use a headrest or plan to use them while lying down then they are no good for you. There is no comfortable realistic way to do either position because of the band around the back of your head. While I don't find myself in that situation often there are times where I wish there was a better fit for those situations so it is annoying.
But I still like them.
If you're looking for an earbud-style headphone that lets you hear the world around you and doesn't actually stick in your ear, I would take a look at the Cleer ARCs! I have the ARC Sport IIs, specifically. They have much better sound quality than bone conduction headphones, and they don't "leak" sound as much, either.
I have a pair of bone conduction headphones for swimming. They're functional enough for listening to audiobooks or podcasts, but they don't actually sound very nice. I would be sad to actually listen to music with them regularly.
My wife stumbled upon some open ear headphones called "Baseus Bowie MC1 Pro" that are surprisingly great. Not what you asked for, but they don't bleed noise and you can hear around you. I got my own pair after trying hers and realized I don't sweat with them like I do other ear buds. Sound quality isn't perfect but pretty good, but absolutely useless on a plane due to the noise. Use them for every workout now.
...i'm on my fourth pair of after/shokz; they're the least-encumbering headphones i've ever used, which coupled with open-ear utility make them trivial to wear all day and just ignore when i don't need them...
...the newest openrun pro with enhanced bass makes a world of difference for music, transforming the technology from anemic let-your-imagination-fill-in-the-missing-frequncies to perfectly-servicable: not at all bass-intensive but sufficiently-remedied for a similar listening experience to cheap commodity earbuds, just don't buy them expecting an audiophile experience and you won't be disappointed...
...that might not sound like a ringing endorsement but it absolutely is; now i can enjoy the unmatched practical benefits of bone-conduction without compromising their primary use of enjoying music...
I recently bought the newer Shokz model, the Openrun Pro 2. I had previously tried the Openrun Pro a few years back so I have a point of comparison.
The Openrun Pro 2 is a big improvement over the older version, in my opinion, and solves most of the shortcomings that others have identified. They are solidly in the "casual use" tier for me. The Openrun Pro 2's, in addition to bone conduction, can use "air conduction" as well which is just a marketing term for having a tiny directional speaker pointed into your ear, in addition to the bone conduction device. This is basically like having a normal open-ear headphone in addition to the bone conduction. This improves both volume (especially in windy areas or activities) and range, with bass being particularly improved. For headphones that allow you to maintain pretty good situational awareness, the quality is hard to beat. I prefer them over my airpods for working out for this reason, coupled with the fact that they do not fall out easily and have a great battery life. The Pro 2's have USB-C charging instead of the older magnetic port. They are comfortable for me — I can wear them along with sunglasses and a bike helmet and they don't get in the way. I even reach for them for other casual activities where I may want some headphones but don't necessarily want to use my big over-the-ear ones, like walking the dog.
They're not audiophile quality headphones, far from it. But for the niche they do fill (workout headphones), I have yet to find something I enjoy using more. Highly recommend checking out the Pro 2's even if you have prior experience with other models.
I am completely ignorant about this topic so please keep that in mind.
I’ve discovered their existence a few months ago but then dismissed it because it was “scary” to me to be vibrating the bone had me scared for long term effects and such.
Anyone have info on pros and cons of normal earbuds vs this new fangled tech?
I don't have pros and cons, but I can tell you there are no known negative health effects or outcomes. The tech has been in use in hearing aids since the 1970's. Your ear drum consists of bones, and sound waves vibrating them is how we hear everything.
Alternative suggestion depending on setting: open back headphones. I used to wear my (over ear) headphones with one side off my ear to still hear my surroundings. But then I got this pair of open back headphones bc my friend didn't like them. I like them, but it is a rather different listening experience! I can hear my surroundings rather clearly depending on the volume of my media. They are also lighter than other pairs I've had, but that's part of the selling point of this particular pair I think. It does impact the feeling, like the sound space feels more open and bass isn't as enclosed to your ear so doesn't feel as deep. The audio quality is fine enough, I'd expect better for the price, but doesn't seem a limitation of open back, moreso design of mine. Conversely, being open, the audio is leaked so folks around you will hear more versus closed at the same volume.
I have had the Shokz Open Run for about a year and use them as my primary means of listening to podcasts and music from my phone. My main intention was to use them for biking, which I still do. They work great, but if ambient sounds are too high (e.g.: loud traffic) then they will down out the headphones even at max volume. If I'm vacuuming, I actually sometimes put in foam earplugs which block the vacuum noise, allowing me to hear the bone conduction sound just fine.
Base is not reproduced well, and so they are not great for hearing all the subtleties of music. But for calls or podcasts, they are great.
Recently, they have started to rattle as if some component is loose inside. They still work well, but the rattle is annoying. (I don't think there is anyway to repair them.)
I have Shokz / Aftershokz. Sound quality is just ok. It's great for outdoor running (situational awareness) and it's got absurdly long battery life. I can leave mine lying around for months unused and it'll still be charged when I pick it up again.
Have a pair of cheap Amazon alphabet soup named knockoffs. Use them for audiobooks at work as I need to hear what's around me on job site, and as background music when cycling.
Way better than one earbud since I can still hear in all directions and there is zero risk of losing the earbud in a pocket or dropping it. Cheap set cost under $60 so if they get destroyed I don't really care. They work just fine for my purposes and last 2-3 full work days on a single charge.
Worth a shot for you at that price point! If you wind up enjoying them you can always upgrade.
I've been using the very basic model of the Shokz for outside activities and they have been wonderful so far. It is great to be able to hear audio content while maintaining situational awareness. The battery life is excellent as well and I appreciate the charging via usb-c unlike the fancier Shokz models with proprietary chargers. Cons are slow charging and the non-adjustable neckband. I sold my airpods soon after I got the Shokz.
I have one of the older models, Aeropex 2, and I use them regularly while cycling. I use them with loop earbuds to limit wind and car noise while still maintaining situational awareness.
They're fantastic for what I use them for. I don't feel safe using traditional earbuds while biking in traffic.