This Youtuber is pimping his sponsor’s product, Raycon’s Bone Conduction Headphones. Supposedly the sound doesn’t go into your ears, but it (literally) rattles your skull, transmitting the sound through your bones. Thus, you can hear what’s going on outside while your content is delivered to you … through your bones, I guess.
Sounds like woo to me, but a) Raycon seems to be a legitimate retailer of legitimate audio geegaws, and b) the guy pimping the product, Sci Man Dan, is a, uh, scientist, and he appears to have some integrity, so I’m not sure he’d pimp a product that was basically woo.
Is there anything to this? Could sound really be transmitted through my bones?
Sure. Why not? Bone conducts sound waves reasonably well.
Does it sound as good as small speakers inside your ears? No.
Yep. That’s one advantage. If it’s actually an advantage to you, of course. If I’m listening to headphones in my room, I don’t really give two hoots if I an hear sounds outside of the headphones.
Another advantage is that people who find regular on-the-ear or in-the-ear headphones to be uncomfortable often find bone conducting headphones to be significantly more comfortable.
Me personally, I’ll pass. But they do work as advertised. Mostly. (Like I said, the sound quality isn’t the greatest)
They work if you wear them correctly, but whether you like what you hear is a matter of preference. The sensation of sound you hear will be different from what you’re used to hearing through your headphones/earbuds. Some frequencies may come through better than others. It’s not woo, but a lot of people don’t care for them
They’re pitched to swimmers, too. Not for decades tho (I’m guessing the waterproofing tech is more recent than the bone conducting tech) but at least for the past 5 years. I haven’t had chance to try them myself.
Bone conduction works as noted by others above. Raycon as an audio company has a mixed reputation, sort of like Beats back in the day where you had a ton of people wearing and promoting them and a number of people saying they were overhyped and inferior to other less expensive options. Likewise, Raycon seems to be the sponsor at 75% of Youtube videos and (to my understanding) they’re fine but riding more on carpet bomb style marketing than any sort of superior quality. In other words, your YT host may legitimately like them and not be a total shill but you’ll still hear/see detractors.
I’ve had numerous AfterShokz (their former name) & Shokz over the years. The original ones / some models they still sell are a C-shaped band that goes behind your head & then over each ear. I had a couple of pair break because the “C” snapped in a bag; therefore they didn’t have the tension to stay on your head anymore. In / over ear headphones block some ambient noise by design; that is not good if you’re running / cycling & need to hear approaching runners/cyclists/vehicles. That becomes their disadvantage; in a noisy environment it’s hard to hear what’s coming over them, whether that’s music or the person you’re talking to because you’re ears are still taking in all ambient noise around you.
Bone conducting headphones are also used by SWAT / military teams so that the team can hear each other but the bad guy doesn’t / maintain the element of surprise because there is no outside noise. If I’m outside your door/window, you won’t hear the all the members of the team checking in - “In position”, “ready” “GO!” etc. & there’s no chance of an earpiece falling out since they are under your helmet.
I was going to mention those but also the corresponding reduced-audible throat microphones. They’re designed for low vocal signals in similar tactical situation to help facilitate closed mouth communitactions. I’ve never used one but you basically murmer with a closed mouth and a neck worn mic picks up enough to communicate. I think they’re also used for Scuba comms where a regulator similarly occupies the lips.
Throat mikes date back to WWII-ish. They were used in very noisy airplanes, even the last of the open-cockpit ones, once radios and electronic intercoms began to be fitted.
Fidelity was 1930s/1940s crappy, but was better than the same era state of the art in a noise cancelling microphone held in front of one’s mouth.
I’m not comfortable telling users of tactical kill gear they’re using it wrong.
Yea, I conflated the throat mics for high noise with the bone conduction mics for low sound voice comms. But, yea, whisper mode bone conduction mics that fit into the ear.
I’ve used the Shoks line of bone-conduction headsets for about 10 years. I swear by them. I used to have issues with frequent ear infections. Since I stopped using earbuds, and went to bone conduction, I haven’t had once since. The sound is amazing. I can also hear everything around me - especially my boss calling my name as I sit at my desk. Totally, unreservedly recommend them.
I like them, too. I use them at the dentist: listen to an audiobook to distract my anxiety, but I can still hear “open” and “not that wide” when appropriate.
I’ve had mine (not Shokz) for about 2 years. Sound is reasonable; the only complaint I have is that the microphone really really sucks - enough that I can’t use it for phone or meetings. How’s the mic on the Shokz?
I’m an IT guy. I can walk into our server room, which is very noisy, and they have no issue with (A) cancelling the extra sound, and (B) letting me be heard with no issues.
I’ve been using a pair of Oladance bone conduction earbuds for about nine months now, primarily for listening to music and audiobooks when I walk. They’re pretty fantastic- I can hear the audio very clearly, but also hear traffic around me.
