4 reasons to use bone conduction headphones over wireless earbuds

Key Takeaways

Bone conduction improves situational awareness, allowing you to enjoy your music while staying aware.
They offer better comfort for long-term wear.
Bone conduction headphones can provide a better listening experience for those with hearing deficiencies.

Bone conduction technology is by no means new. After all, it’s how Beethoven created his music after he lost his hearing, and there are records of bone conduction being used as far back as the 1550s. Bone conduction headphones rely on the same principles as those early use cases, using vibrations sent to bones in the head to transmit sound, offering a unique alternative to in-ear headphones.

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In-ear headphones transmit sound through the air to our eardrums. These headphones block the ear canal, which limits how much ambient noise you hear, even if they don’t provide active noise cancelation. The sound quality can be great but at a cost.

Bone conduction headphones use a transducer that rests on the jaw or cheekbones to transmit sound through vibrations to the inner ear.

Bone conduction headphones, on the other hand, use a transducer that rests on the jaw or cheekbones to transmit sound through vibrations to the inner ear. This keeps the ear canal open, and sound goes directly to the cochlea in the inner ear instead of first to the eardrums. While the sound quality may be reduced compared to other styles, there are some key benefits to bone conduction headphones that make it worth it, especially for certain situations and people.

1 Better situational awareness

Stay aware to be courteous and safe

A woman with a white running hat wears a pair of Shokz Open Run Pro bone conduction headphones in front of a blurred out forest background.

Bone conduction headphones’ primary purpose, especially since the ear canal remains open, is that you can still hear surrounding noises. As a result, bone conduction headphones can significantly improve situational awareness.

While it may be nice to tune out the world from time to time, being aware of your surroundings is important for a few reasons. First and most importantly, it allows you to stay safe. If you cycle, run, or walk anywhere with traffic, it’s important to be able to hear people, traffic noise, and sirens to avoid accidents.

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Second, it allows you to be better aware of any potentially unsafe situations, which is especially important for women. For this reason alone, I don’t like to run with anything other than bone conduction headphones.

With bone conduction, I’m far less likely to block anyone’s path since I’m able to be aware of other people around me.

Beyond safety, better situational awareness also means that you can remain courteous to those around you. When I ran with normal headphones, I couldn’t hear if someone was coming up behind me on the sidewalk, so I couldn’t get out of the way if they were moving faster. I’ve also been on the other end of this, stuck waiting behind someone who can’t hear that someone else is there because of their headphones. With bone conduction, I’m far less likely to block anyone’s path since I’m able to be aware of other people around me.

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2 Listen to tunes while chatting with others

Keep the music going while you have a conversation

The nose of a black dog sniffs a set of Shokz bone conduction headphones sitting on fake turf.

In the same vein as above, wearing bone conduction headphones makes it easier to get a workout in with a buddy while listening to music. You won’t have to take an earbud out if you want to chat since you can easily hear beyond the headphones. That means you can jam out while still carrying on a conversation or being aware if they need a spot during a lift.

You can jam out while still carrying on a conversation or being aware if they need a spot during a lift.

For the same reason, bone conduction headphones can be great for certain types of work environments where you need to stay alert and chat with others. You’ll still be able to hear everyone and won’t need to constantly pause your music or take out your headphones, which is more convenient for everyone.

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3 More comfortable

Nothing in the ear means added comfort over time

Shokz Open Run Pro bone conduction headphones on a blue table.

Wearing headphones for extended periods isn’t always very comfortable. That’s especially true if you have small ear canals and are wearing earbuds. While bone conduction headphones do rest on top of the ear, I’ve found them to be significantly more comfortable than other styles when wearing them for a long time. That’s even true when wearing them with sunglasses. And despite the fact that they just rest there, I’ve had no issues with them not staying put during workouts

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4 Better for those with hearing deficiencies

Hear better even if you have hearing loss

A pair of SHokz Open Run Pro bone conduction headphones on a MacBook Pro laptop.

While bone conduction headphones aren’t better for your hearing than other types of headphones, they are better for those who have hearing deficiencies. In fact, some hearing aids rely on bone conduction as well. Remember, Beethoven used bone conduction to hear his music, so it makes sense that this technology would be ideal for those with hearing impairments.

Those with hearing loss that impacts the middle or outer ear could benefit from bone conduction headphones since they bypass the impacted areas.

Bone conduction headphones bypass the eardrum and send sound directly to the cochlea, the organ responsible for hearing. That means that those with hearing loss that impacts the middle or outer ear could benefit from bone conduction headphones since they bypass the impacted areas.