Bone Conduction Headphones are among the newest innovations in the audio wearables market. Because of how innovative they are compared to regular headphones or earbuds, they are gaining in popularity. Most people don’t know bone conduction headphones work with earplugs or the benefits.
Bone conduction headphones work with earplugs because of how the sound is transmitted to your inner ear. Instead of sending soundwaves into your ears, bone conduction headphones work by sending vibrations to the bones in your ear. This then sends the sound signals directly to your brain.
Going by that, we can see how innovative and, frankly, incredible bone conduction headphones are. They are making use of the bones in your head to produce the sounds that you hear in your ears. In that sense, anything blocking your ears does not affect the sounds at all. But if you want to learn more about how these headphones work, you might want to read on.
Can You Hear A Bone Conduction Headset While Wearing Earplugs?
Yes, you can hear a bone conduction headset while wearing earplugs. This innovative format is the only solution to headphone-related activities where safety is a real concern. For example, if you are at work on a construction site and you need to be wearing earplugs.
You can use Bone Conduction Headphones while safely wearing your earplugs. You can have a conversation on your BlueTooth Smartphone with your co-worker, boss, or client and still hear the conversation. This system facilitates your uninterrupted work with no wires or safety issues.
Bone Conduction Headphones are the only system that will allow you to wear earplugs and still hear the sound. The earplugs will muffle or block any unwanted loud noises and background noise in crowded places.
How Do Bone Conduction Headphones work?
We know that you are excited to get to the center of things. It is also interesting first to discuss how bone conduction headphones work before we get there. It will be easier to understand everything about these headphones once you have a general idea of how they work.
Starting from the basics, if you listened well in your high school science classes, you would remember that sounds are produced by vibrations that affect the air. The positive and negative changes that these vibrations make create waves we call sound waves. The reverberations happen in many ways and let you hear the sounds that speakers and headphones produce clearly.
For example, when you are talking, the sound you produce comes from the resonance in your vocal cords. The same is true whenever you strike a drum; the constant inward and outwards motions are created by your strike. This action will create different vibrations that will affect the surrounding air in the immediate area, thereby creating sound waves. Even something as simple as bouncing a ball creates sound from the vibrations produced by that one single impact’s reverberation.
Bone Conduction Headphone Vibrations
Concerning regular headphones, earphones, earbuds, and speakers, the sounds created are due to the constant movements happening in the headphones. They all use magnetism to turn electrical energy into sound and create vibrations that affect the surrounding air.
In these examples, the sounds are directed inside your ears instead of allowing the soundwaves to scatter. These audio devices work by producing vibrations that affect the airwaves, thereby creating a sound which will reach our ears via the air. This phenomenon is the exact reason humans can’t hear sound in the dead of space, as there is no air.
Bone conduction headphones follow the same principles of producing sounds instead of allowing the vibrations to change the surrounding air. They produce a pulse and conduct vibrations through the bones in your upper jaw, cheekbone, or behind your ear. Your bones then relay the sounds, which are directly transmitted to your ears and your brain.
Limited Hearing Miracle
The Bone Conduction Headphones speaker equivalent is called a Transducer. The Transducer is worn most commonly on the mastoid bone behind the ear’s pinna on the head. It transfers sound directly to the fluids in the ears cochlea, bypassing the eardrums and ossicular chain.
This consideration may be useful for those who have hearing problems. Bone conduction headphones may help as they no longer have to rely on air conduction to listen to music. The use of these is best determined by a hearing professional like an otolaryngologist (ENT). A person with limited or damaged hearing may benefit if they have one of the following:
- Conductive Hearing Loss
- Inner Ear Frozen or Malleus Fracture
- Damaged Incus or Stapes Bones
- Punctured Eardrum
Because Bone Conduction Headphones allow you to “feel” soundwaves in your eardrums, this can be a fantastic gift for someone with these issues, depending on the severity and circumstances. In this sense, it also feels natural unless the headphones are on a really high volume. If the bone conduction headphones volume is too high, the vibration does not feel natural and is noticeable.
One of our articles on “Bone Conduction Headphones Use With Existing Tinnitus And Hearing Loss.”
Do Bone Conduction Headphones Work When You Are Wearing Earplugs?
Now that we know how bone conduction headphones work, let us go right to business by asking the right questions. Do bone conduction headphones work even when you are wearing earplugs?
Yes, they do. Bone conduction headphones still work while you are wearing earplugs. They always work due to the very nature of how these wearable audio devices function.
Regardless of whatever may be blocking your ears, you will still hear the sounds produced by the bone conduction headphones. As discussed, they rely on vibrations instead of actual soundwaves in the air. You can wear earplugs together with your bone conduction headphones and be able to listen to your music or podcast. The same is true whenever you are not wearing earplugs.
Are There Benefits To Wearing Earplugs When You Are Using Your Bone Conduction Headphones?
Those in noisy and loud environments such as malls, airports, and bus terminals can benefit from wearing earplugs while using bone conduction headphones. It might be a bit overwhelming for them to hear so many different sounds at the same time. Wearing earplugs can help a person focus more on their music or audiobook than what is happening around them.
Many prefer to use bone conduction headphones without earplugs because they still need to hear what is happening around them. If you are out jogging, you need to be aware of your environment. As you listen to music, you will never know if a speeding car is approaching or if someone is following you when you are too focused on your music. You will still hear what is happening around you even as you are using bone conduction headphones.
Many of the bone conduction headphones we have today are modeled after special operations teams use in the military or law enforcement. Special ops teams use bone Conduction Headphones because they allow them to stay connected without sacrificing their situational and environmental awareness.
Are Bone Conduction Headphones Better For Your Ears?
With all the information considered, can you say that bone conduction headphones are better for your ears because they don’t overwhelm your inner ear with direct sound waves? Anytime you listen to something too loud, whether regular or bone conduction headphones, they can damage your hearing.
In terms of general safety, bone conduction headphones allow you to retain your awareness of your environment since you can hear what is happening around you. You end up sacrificing some sound quality, though, which will still be an issue as this tech is always evolving.
Bone conduction headphones are a great addition to anyone’s arsenal of headphones and earbuds. They are great for listening to audiobooks, podcasts, music, and movies on your BlueTooth tv, laptop, tablet, smartphone, or notebook.
One of our popular articles on this subject is “Are Bone Conduction Headphones Safer?”
References:
https://www.gq.com/story/bone-conduction-headphones-review