# Bone Conduction Headphones
### Entered on Alphasmart Dana
### 20181231
So, here it is 2130 on New Year's eve (GMT-7). I received
my pair of _[Sportz Titanium][1]_ bone conduction headphones
by AfterShokz tonight. I have them plugged into my
recently purchased Chinese MP3 player, and have been
listening to a large selection of Black Metal, Death
Metal, and Hard Rock for several hours now. I was
skeptical to the sound quality with there being no direct
coverage of my ear canals. Well, that is not a problem as
it turns out. There is a definite sweetspot for the
transducers to be placed, but music is audible with one
touching any place at all on your skull.
Normally, my ears turn painful after about an hour of
wearing headphones, or earphones. I know I could likely
re-pad my studio monitor headphones, but I would have to
purchase the pads online and what if they were still not
right? It seems like a pain in the butt. After a few
hours use, my ears are not hurting. I can still hear all
that is going on in my house (currently my wife, youngest
daughter, and two of her friends milling about). This
fact means I can get away with wearing them at work.
Pretty damned cool.
These do need to be recharged, I read up on bone
conductive headphones before purchasing and all the models
not having an integrated amplifier had complaints of too
little volume. There is a standard micro-USB port for
charging, and the battery is rated at 12 hours of
continuous play. The unit arrived at my home precharged,
so I have not had to recharge them yet. So far, so good.
They seem mildly robust. However, if you carelessly toss
them into a backpack and pile stuff on them, they will
likely get damaged. Mindfulness will be required to
ensure a long life.
I also purchased a braided leather lanyard to hang my MP3
player around my neck. This setup will allow my media
player and headphone cable (yeah, I am not a fan of
bluetooth headphones and opted for a wired model) to be
concealed under my work clothing. Most of my job is
performed in my office, but I can end up working on heavy
equipment and so handily securing my music device was a
consideration.
One thing to point out is that high decibel sound is also
conducted through your skull, so in loud environments
these are no better than conventional headphones for
listening to music. Follow standard hearing preservation
practices to ensure you do not acquire a temporary
threshold shift and damage your hearing permanently (as I
have already done through long term exposure to 12
cylinder industrial diesel engines).
Happy New Year, gopherspace!
[1]:
http://aftershokz.com "AfterShokz Website"
