Bone Fones for your music tones (1980)
The Bone Fone claimed to provide a music listening experience through bone conduction, which is a thing. How well this worked from this device, I am not sure. There are specialty applications of bone conduction for hearing impaired individuals or noisy industrial environments. It doesn't seem to have set the audiophile world on fire, although there were a few clones of the Bone Fone.
Smartphones dethroned Bone Fones from the music zone, but we shouldn't be too prone to moan or disown the shown Bone Fones.
The ad's $70 price is around $280 in 2026 USD.
6 replies
I've had several versions of Shokz bone conduction headphones and they are good for long days on teleconferencing and for running or biking when you still want to be able to hear what's around you. I like them for practicing instruments too. The sound quality is good for phone and casual music but not audiophile level
I have a set of base model Shokz openrun headphones. They were great when I was a manager years ago and was stuck in the office all night doing paperwork. My crew would come in asking me questions and I didn't have to unplug a earbud or keep one ear always open. I could still hear everything around me but also listen to music or the news.
Now I'm somewhere that has no music for safety reasons but I don't mind so much since it is better than country music on the radio like I had at my last place.
They're not exactly uncommon. I saw them in stores a few years ago. It looks like the market is for people that want to maintain situational awareness, for which you can also get earbuds with passthrough that also give you the option to reduce noise.
https://www.tomsguide.com/buying-guide/best-bone-conduction-headphones
I remember these. I wanted one so bad back then.
For the life of me, i can't remember if i bought one.....
I wonder how well it worked. My only experience with bone conduction drivers is with IEMs, and they are pretty watered down and safe or downright obnoxious depending on the design.
I figured bone conduction would attenuate some frequencies a lot more than others. I've never tried one of these devices but would like to. I wonder if they can compensate by amplifying those freqs more in the device, so it evens out a little by the time you experience the sound.