We all love to enjoy our music while we’re working or we love to have headphones on while we’re working out.
A few decades back, there were only the traditional headphones, the case isn’t the same anymore, bone conduction headphones have arrived.
The purpose of designing the bone conduction headphones was to provide medical assistance in listening to music to people with hearing loss, while the traditional ones were just invented for listening to music. Choosing between the two can be a headache sometimes.
Therefore, we compiled this detailed comparison, so you can easily choose which 1 is more suitable for you.
Design
The traditional headphones are designed in a simple manner, they go over your head and cover your ears.
The bone conduction headphones have more of an unconventional design, they leave your ears open to rest on your cheekbones.
Functionality
The standard headphones operate by sending out the sound waves through the air to your eardrums, and the eardrums vibrate to send the information along so the cochlea receives the information.
Instead of doing things the normal way, the bone conduction headphones send out vibrations through your jaws and head bones. By this method, the eardrums are bypassed indicating that the sound travels straight to your cochlea in your inner ear.
As the sound reaches your cochlea, electrical impulses are sent out towards your brain through your auditory nerves. The impulses that are sent to your brain through the auditory nerves are similar to the impulses that reach your brain through your ears.
Sound Quality
The traditional headphones can be super loud since they’re designed for enjoying music and other stuff you listen to, they can offer high-volume beats and bass. The sound quality of the traditional headphones depends on how you’re using them and how good they’re.
The sound quality of the bone conduction headphones depends on the air conduction of sound and waves and the ability of those waves to go through your inner ear. This indicates that if you have some troubles in your inner ear, the sound quality would be quite messed up.
Awareness of Surroundings
While you’re guaranteed to enjoy your music if you’re walking or running with your traditional headphones on, you’re more exposed to the vulnerabilities around you since you can be totally distracted by the sound quality of these headphones.
The bone conduction headphones can’t distract you in such a way that you may get injured seriously, they’re likely to keep you attentive to the surroundings to maintain your safety.
Privacy
Traditional headphones can be quite reliable when it comes to suppressing secrets. Since they are meant to go right into your ears, this means that no matter how high their volume is, if you’re having a private discussion with someone over a call, the audio won’t be heard outside.
While the bone conduction headphones rest on your cheeks, instead of going in your ears, sometimes the audio can be heard outside if the volume is too loud or if the environment is super quiet.
Comfort and Fit
While the traditional headphones really perform their function of being super loud, however, using them for too long can make your ears sore and while you go for your run, these headphones might just slip off your head since they can’t stay put if you’re running fast.
The bone conduction headphones can be worn for a long time and your ears would still be fine as a fiddle, moreover, if you want to go for a run in the early morning, these headphones would stay exactly where they are, since they fit comfortably around your face.
Price
You can get the traditional headphones in all kinds of price ranges, from $5 to $5000 and even more, depending on what kind of headphones you want and what do you use them for, you can buy gaming headphones for a decent amount or normal ones at a cheap price.
As the bone conduction headphones are manufactured for people with hearing losses, their prices can be quite high since they’re providing medical assistance to these people.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What's The Difference Between Open and Closed Headphones?
back of the or some of the back of the traditional headphones is open in order to allow a wider and natural sound from the headphones. Closed headphones often offer a sound that’s straight in your ears and head, eliminating sound leakage and also isolating you from the outside sound.
What Is a Headphone Amplifier?
The purpose of a headphone amplifier is to power the headphone and drive them. If the headphones are under the driving, the sound would turn into a flat one and won’t offer any dynamics. No matter how high-end headphones you own, if they aren’t paired with the right amplifier and if they are underpowered, the low-end headphones would easily beat them in performance.
Are Bone Conduction Headphones Safe While Working Out?
The external noise can reach your ears more easily since the ear canal is exposed than it would if you had the traditional headphones on which makes the bone conduction headphones a safer option while you’re working out. However, it also depends on what volume the bone conduction headphones operate on.
Conclusion
No one would recommend you to buy bone conduction headphones if you don’t have any hearing loss. You would be missing out on so much from the traditional headphones, their sound quality, and the sound dynamics they offer, it’s always worth a try.
However, if you are struggling with hearing, the bone conduction earphones are meant for you. Even after suffering a hearing loss, to be able to enjoy the audio and music in stereo is huge.
So the ball is in your court, buying yourself the traditional headphones if you’re perfectly fine with hearing would be a smart choice.