Headphones/earphones can be dangerous because when used at loud volume levels, or if they’re noise cancelling headphones, you won’t be able to hear your surroundings which can be dangerous in the streets or when crossing the road, since you won’t hear warning sounds like cars honking at you and so on. Well if you’re looking to enjoy your music but perhaps not so invasively, perhaps the Damson headphones might be worth checking out. What makes the Damson headphones so different from the other headphones is that it relies on bone conduction to help deliver the sound to you. What this means is that the headphones themselves don’t go in or over your ears, but rests on the temporal bone on the sides of your head.
Though headphones that use bone conduction technology to transmit sounds through the cheek bones to the inner ear are not exactly new, a trip to the personal audio section of your local electronics store will confirm that they haven’t really jumped into the mainstream. Having taken Maxell’s Vibrabone earphones and the Cynaps hat for test drives, we can see why the technology might not appeal to folks who love the full fat sonic experience which cans that throw sounds down your ear canal can deliver. The UK’s Damson Audio is looking to change that with the development of the stylish Bluetooth-enabled Headbones, which the company says are going to shake up the headphone market. The arms of the Headbones rest on the temporal bone on either side of a user’s head, and are flexible to help ensure a good fit (there’s an adjustable strap at the back too), and hinged to cater for storage in a sunglasses-style carry case. Sound is transmitted to a user’s inner ear courtesy of something Damson calls Incisor Diffusion Technology (IDT), leaving the ear canal open to background noise. So you can listen to Wimbledon commentary while also hearing matchplay or take a bike ride with Bach and also being aware of traffic.
