In case you’ve by no means worn a pair of bone conduction headphones, it is a fairly fascinating expertise. In lieu of conventional speaker drivers, bone conduction makes use of methodically positioned nodes that relaxation alongside your jaw and facial bones. The nodes pulsate, and the vibrations journey as much as your ears within the type of sound waves. It actually appears to work like magic, and whereas there are a number of bone conduction manufacturers to select from nowadays, an organization known as Shokz (previously AfterShokz) has been perfecting bone conduction tech for fairly a while.
Shokz is owned by Shenzhen Voxtech Co., Ltd., a Chinese language acoustic know-how firm. Many of the model’s headphone manufacturing takes place in Shenzhen, China, with a choose few merchandise being manufactured in Vietnam (confirmed on Reddit). The bigger Voxtech father or mother firm, based in 2001, initially produced two-way radio headsets for the army, legislation enforcement, and sports activities broadcasters. It would not be till 2012 that Voxtech, below its AfterShokz label, launched its first consumer-grade product: the Shokz Bluez.
Shokz headphones are literally housed below a separate Voxtech sub-label: Shenzhen Shokz Co., Ltd. To make issues much more complicated, the AfterShokz client model did not floor till 2011, and in Syracuse, New York, of all locations. That is the place Shokz’s headquarters was till relocating to Austin, Texas, in 2020.
Humble beginnings for Shokz led to trade affect
As of 2026, Shokz continues to be commanded by its founders: Ken Chen, Chen Hao, and Qi Xin. Over the past a number of years, Shokz has turn into almost synonymous with bone conduction tech and different open-ear audio units. A number of the firm’s hottest merchandise embody the OpenFit Professional, OpenFit 2, and OpenRun Professional 2, none of which contain any sort of in-ear fittings.
One of many essential benefits of bone conduction headphones is that they will let you hear ambient noise, as a result of there’s actually nothing to seal or cowl your ears. This makes them a terrific selection for out of doors exercises, and fashions just like the OpenRun Professional 2 even embody mud and water resistance (they’re IP55-certified). Many Shokz merchandise even have built-in microphones for taking calls, which make use of wind discount and different noise isolation tech to maintain your voice sounding crisp and clear.
Voxtech undoubtedly began a motion. These days, everybody from Bose and Raycon to even Walmart’s Onn home model makes one or a number of bone conduction and open-ear merchandise. Talking of which, in case you’re searching for a terrific pair of clip-on earbuds (which means they actually clip onto your ear cartilage), look no additional than the Bose Extremely Open Earbuds.
