BATBAND Headphones, Bone Conducting Cans

Freeing your hands and opening up your outer ear, BATBAND headphones use the bones in your skull to play music.

BATBAND Headphones, Bone Conducting Cans

The ultimate way to remain in tune with your surroundings while listening to music usually means open-back headphones. Which in turn also means sound leakage. In public arenas, this is frowned upon – especially on New York City transportation. London-based tech company, Studio Banana Things, has created a futuristic-looking headset that will change that. BATBAND headphones are not over-ear, on-ear, or in-ear. In fact, these headphones don’t even touch your ears – the outer ear that is.

BATBAND headphones use bone conduction to vibrate your inner ear, rather than play music through your outer ear. This causes you to hear the music twice as loud, while vocal content is basically unheard by those next to you. The headband-like device uses a steel spring to clamp to the back of your head. The inside is lined with padding for long wearing comfort and to prevent sound leakage. Inside the band are three transducers which emit sound waves – two at the temporal bone (sides of the head) and one at the occipital bone (back of the head) – resulting in bone conduction.Users have described the listening experience as feeling the music inside their head or a sensation where the music feels like it’s in the center of their head.

BATBAND works by using Bluetooth technology to pair with your cellphone. The outside has two touch sensors for basic controls. The left side features a button to power on the device, take calls, and end calls. The right side features a swiping sensor to turn the volume up and down as well as skip back and forth between tracks. The unit charges via USB port and can last up to 6 hours of music playback and 8 hours of talk time. BATBAND is said to reach a frequency range between 20 – 190,000 Hertz.

BATBAND headphones will retail for $250, but can be purchased via Indiegogo for a discount at $199. These are looking to be a popular product as Studio Banana Things has raised over $800,000 through crowdsourcing as of May 25. These bone conducting headphones will ship to backers in July.