Skip to Content

Best Bone Conduction Headphones

This post may contain affiliate links and/or codes. You won’t pay anything extra, but I might make a commission.

Do you want to hear your music or podcast, but also need to hear what’s going on around you? Trekz Titanium and Trekz Air bone conduction headphones are great for jogging, biking, or just wearing around the house.

Trekz Titanium headphones by AfterShokz

What is bone conduction technology?

Our inner ear (also called the cochlea) conducts sound to our brain, and there are two ways for sounds to get to our inner ears: from our eardrums, or through our bones.

Traditional headphones send sounds down the ear canal to the eardrum, which turns the sounds into vibrations, and sends those vibrations to our inner ears, which sends them to our brains.

Bone conduction headphones don’t involve the eardrum at all. Instead, they do the job of the eardrums and turn the sounds into vibrations, sending those vibrations through our bones to our inner ears.

Bone conduction headphones vs. in-ear headphones

I’ve owned countless pairs of earbuds in my lifetime, and I still use them frequently. It’s not really a question of whether bone conduction headphones are better than in-ear headphones, the issue is really which one is better for what situation?

If I jog early in the morning when the sidewalks are empty (shut up, it’s happened) I usually leave one earbud out. Same when I walk somewhere in the dark. I want to be able to hear what’s going on around me, like if someone is walking up behind me. And I would never bike with earbuds in. A woman on a motorized scooter was killed on my street years ago because she was wearing headphones and couldn’t hear an emergency vehicle approaching the intersection (plus, it’s illegal in NYC to bike with headphones in or on both ears).

Jogging with my Trekz Titanium headphones by AfterShokz in D.C.

Now, though, I have something to use that solves the problem of hearing what’s happening around me, while still letting me listen to music in both ears. At CES this year I received a pair of headphones to try that are incredibly cool, the Trekz Titanium from AfterShokz. They don’t go in your ears like earbuds, and they don’t go over your ears like regular headphones.

Trekz Titanium headphones by AfterShokz on my head

They go in front of  your ears without covering them, so that you can hear your music (or podcast or whatever) and still hear what’s going on around you. They use bone-conducting technology so that the sound is being conducted through your cheekbones, to your eardrums.

The Sound

They connect via bluetooth, and the connection has been nearly perfect (I occasionally have a problem if my phone is deep in my pocket or in a purse, but that happens with all of my bluetooth headphones). The sound is fantastic, with good bass. In fact, I can feel the bass “tapping” against my cheek if I turn the volume up really loud. There’s also a microphone. I’ve taken calls on my Trekz and the sound is great.

Trekz Titanium headphones in box

When used at a normal volume, very little sound escapes from the headphones. When played at a loud volume, more can be heard, just like with earbuds, although I think the bleed from these is a little worse. Walking down the street with my husband, he couldn’t hear the music playing in my ears. In a very quiet room, though, I think it could be an issue.

Buttons

There are three buttons on the headphones: Volume Up/Power, Volume Down, and Multi-function. The Multi-function button is used to answer calls, access the voice-dial feature, pause music, and skip to the next track. When music is paused, clicking one of the volume buttons will give you a battery charge status.

Comfort

I’ve worn these jogging at least ten times and they’re incredibly comfortable. Since they hook over my ears they don’t move around, and unlike earbuds they can’t fall out. They can be worn with a bike helmet, but how easy and comfortable that is depends on how much room your helmet gives you in the area behind your ears. They worked fine with mine, but I could see them being a problem with other helmets.

It rarely comes up that I would want to wear these with my glasses, but I tried it and it did work. The headphones are flexible enough that they fit over my glasses without pressing them into my head too hard.

They come with little “fit bands,” little silicone wrappers that are supposed to help the headphones fit better on people with small heads. I tried them, but couldn’t feel or hear a difference. Either they don’t work, or my head isn’t as small as I thought it was.

I do have one small complaint. Wearing them while my hair is in a ponytail is perfect. When my hair is down I can either wear them over my hair, which looks a bit odd, or under my hair. When I wear them under my hair I angle the headphones so that the strap is down as low as I can go; otherwise it would be pushing my hair up from underneath. However, if I tilt my head back even a little bit, the headphones are pushed out of place, which is really annoying. I do wish the strap was adjustable, so that I could make it smaller and wear it right up against my head.

Biking with the Trekz

This section is an update from when I first wrote this post. I’d tried them on with my helmet to make sure that they could both be worn together, but I didn’t actually bike with them, because it was early spring and I wasn’t biking yet.

Both my husband and I have worn them biking, and they are amazing! I’d never even ridden my bike with one earbud in, because I was afraid I wouldn’t hear something dangerous on that side. So I was a little nervous about riding with these. But I found them to be perfectly safe since I could still hear everything that was happening around me. 

They fit perfectly with my Nutcase helmet, and I could still access all of the controls (some of them were under the helmet straps, but still easy to get to). 

But here’s the best part: I was able to listen to music and google maps biking directions at the same time! That hadn’t even occurred to me until I was looking up directions to print up and realized I could use the live directions. I used to tape them to my handlebars. No more!! 

If you bike, you need these. We may have to buy a second pair because if we bike together we’re going to be fighting over them.

When I Don’t Wear Them

Now, there are definitely times when I don’t want to hear what’s happening around me. I would never wear these on the subway, or on an airplane (although the headphones come with a pair of earplugs in case you want to use them that way). But they’re the only headphones I wear now when I jog or walk for exercise, and the only headphones I wear around the house, so that I can hear the phone, or the door, or my kids sneaking up on me (they don’t do it on purpose, but they have scared the crap out me when I was wearing earbuds).

These are definitely geared towards people who want to wear them while exercising. They’re not all that pretty, but they’re not supposed to be. They are water-resistant, so you can sweat on them and wear them into a sauna or steam room, but not in a heavy downpour or in the shower.

Trekz Titanium headphones with accessories and case

They come with a case, charging cord, earplugs, and fit bands. The case can hold the headphones and the accessories easily.

If you’re looking for something a bit more attractive you could check out the AfterShokz Bluez 2S and 2S Limited Edition.

Trekz Titanium headphones by AfterShokz - bone-conducting technology that let's you hear what's happening around you

If you liked this post, I’d really appreciate a share!

Erin

Thursday 5th of May 2016

I found your site thanks to your very helpful Invisalign posts (I get my buttons attached tomorrow! [!!!]), but this post is the highlight for me. My Apple headphones are basically done, and I've been hemming and hawing about replacing them for a while now. Whenever I'm on my phone, I use my Apple headphones and mic, and having headphones that will allow me to answer calls while on the go is really important to me. I have moderate hearing loss and I sometimes wear hearing aids – we live in the future, so I can stream music and answer calls with them, but that cuts through my batteries like a hot knife through butter. This seems like the perfect solution – not only will I be able to use these while wearing my hearing aids (making it soo much easier to have them on for unexpected interactions, like at a grocery store or on the street), but when I'm not wearing my hearing aids, the conductivity will make the sound so much louder and clearer than my Apple headphones. Amazing! Thanks so much for posting about this – I had no idea this was a thing!

Amy Oztan

Saturday 2nd of July 2016

Wow, how did I not see this comment almost two months ago?

I'm so glad that these are solving a problem for you - I problem I'd never even thought about.

Privacy Policy ~ Full Disclosure ~ Disclaimer