Internet user develops his own bone conduction bicycle helmet

During our daily bone conduction quest on the Internet we bumped into a fun and interesting article from a certain Matlek. Matlek turned out to be a French internet user who found a solution to a problem thanks to bone conduction. The man has a daily 40 minute bike commuting trip.  A boring experience unless you can listen to music while cycling. Get a headphones would be the answer when not living in France… in France nevertheless wearing headphones or in-ear ears is forbidden by law for every driver. Because he didn’t want to violate the law and he didn’t want to endanger his own safety by wearing headphones, he decided to take action himself.

The result is a bicycle helmet that can transmit the music by using bone conduction. He could also have chosen to buy a bone conduction headphones, from AfterShokz or another brand, but the man obviously wanted to roll up his sleeves and to develop his own innovative audio object…and surprisingly enough…his attempt proved to be successful.  put his hands out of the sleeves and surprisingly… with success. When we read the first sentences of his story, we immediately thought it would become a complicated, amateurish and robust construction, but when looking at the end result we need to reconsider our opinion.

The man clearly and carefully thought about his design and he also analyzed bone conduction technology in order to achieve the best result. He installed small DC motors with an audio signal that passes through a TPA2012 audio amplifier that is powered by a single 19650 cell. By using motors instead of speakers and thanks to a 3d printed support part which pushes the motors against the so-called sweet spot, he made it possible to transfer audio by means of bone conduction to his inner ear. Music that can only be heard by the user himself and without blocking ambient noise.

Sweet spot and bone conduction technology research

As indicated before, the actual design took time and was certainly not rushed. It is the result of in-depth research. The man investigated the bone conduction technology, developed various support pieces and tools and also looked for the ideal spot on the skull to transmit the sound to the inner ear.  The result can be admired on the pictures and proves once again that bone conduction in many ways is a technology of the present and of the future. A world full of bone conduction headphones is awaiting us!