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Good Vibrations: Conduction Earbuds |
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Dr. Samuel Says -
Smart Design
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Written by Dr. Samuel Centralia, Ph.D., D.D.S., Esq.
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Tuesday, 30 September 2008 |
When I feel the need to relax, I like to test ride high-end factory prototype motorcycles. Like many loyal Dyscern readers, I suspect. There's nothing like winding up Pacific Coast Highway at 130 mph to take your mind off your daily troubles. I don't mean to brag, but I still hold the North American land speed record on the Ducati GT 9000, and you can find my picture of the walls of many biker bars near the Bonneville Salt Flats.
I've run into a problem with this recently, however. I'm really
addicted to my iPod, as you know, and very much enjoy shuffling through
random '80s songs while riding. Trouble is, even the best in-helmet
speakers are drowned out by wind noise above 80 mpg. And while wearing
my favored brand of earbuds solves the problem nicely, they
have the drawback of making me totally deaf to ambient sounds. The
whistling of the wind, say. Or the surf. Or the blaring horn of the
Humvee coming at me from the intersection.
 So I'm heartened by the new alternative earbud technology just now
hitting retail shelves. Generally classified as conduction earbuds,
these gizmos pass music and audio signals through the bone and
cartilage in and around your ear, rather than inside the ear canal
proper. You attach them just in front of your ear, or on the cartilage.
As my old college roommate David Pogue points out in this excellent NYT
review, conduction earbuds solve a lot of problems at once. They're
more comfortable, easier (and more hygienic) to wear and share, and
work just fine for people with certain types of hearing impairments.
Most critically, relative to my situation, they allow you to hear
everything else around you at the same time you're hearing your music,
or podcast, or what-have-you. They're basically like having your radio
or CD player on in the background, only the speakers are really tiny,
and pressed up against your head.
The downside? Sound quality isn't so good. I haven't tested these
myself, but it makes sense. And anyway, they should work just fine for
spoken word recordings, or other audio where sound quality isn't that
crucial. Like '80s music, come to think of it.
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