Orange’s new wireless headphones transmit audio by vibrating your face bones

Orange Amps has announced the arrival of the O Bones – a set of wireless headphones that transmit audio waves by vibrating your face bones.

Traditionally, headphones essentially act like mini-speakers, pushing air to create sound waves, which transmit into your ears. In contrast, the O Bones use “bone conduction” technology and are positioned to sit on the facial bones in front of your ears. They then use vibrations to send audio waves to your ears along the bones. 

As such, Orange says this results in better awareness of ambient sound for the listener – useful for commutes or play-alongs – and improved ear hygiene.

Driving the vibrations inside the O Bones are 16mm speaker capsules and Orange describes the set as “surprisingly loud”. “Users not only hear the bass, they feel it,” says the amp maker. “The mids are crystal clear and the highs are sharp and well defined.”

Outside of the audio delivery, the headphones are water-resistant and feature a rechargeable battery, which is powered by USB-C and offers a claimed eight hours of listening time on a single charge. It’s Bluetooth 5.0 compatible, too, meaning it should integrate fine with voice controls like Siri and Google Assistant.

Orange is not the first to originate bone conduction technology in headphones – it’s already been used by Phillips and conduction-focused brand Aftershokz – but it looks like it may be the first of the guitar amp brands to do so.

The O Bones are certainly priced competitively, too, available for a street price of £79 (approx. $103). Head to Orange Amps for more information.