Bonephones

What Does Bonephones Mean?

Bonephones are a set of earphones and other tools that conduct sound using bones in the skull. These new types of communications equipment work through the principle of physical conduction, rather than traditional headphones that simply stream audio directly into the ear.

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Techopedia Explains Bonephones

Bonephones may seem relatively new, but some models date back to the 2000s. There’s a rich record of various innovators, including major classical musicians, creating their own primitive bone noise conductors in past centuries.

Bonephones bypass the eardrum and deliver sound directly to the inner ear. Some experts consider this to be a safer way to deliver sound, though some users complain that the result doesn’t quite sound the same. In terms of their design, bonephones are in some ways a first step toward technologies such as cochlear implants that provide alternatives to simply inputting audio through the outer ear.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…