# 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"