14 DAY TRIAL // Normally, sound reaches our ear drums through vibrations in the air. One might even say sound is vibration in the air, but then we'd have to discard vibration through liquids and solids.
Which, obviously, is not the correct thing to do, especially when they hold the key to solving a riddle that has long eluded us.
In this case, FINIS has used the concept of sound conduction through solid matter in order to provide swimmers with a means to listen to music, or whatever else, while underwater.
Called Neptune, the headset doesn't go on one's ears, but on the cheekbones, right in front of the ear lobes in fact.
They make the bone vibrate. The vibrations eventually reach the cochlea. This process is called bone conduction. Some marine mammals use this as well.
In the past, various waterproof headphones or earphones were made, but they ultimately failed to impress anyone.
The reason was simple: while the headsets themselves worked as intended, they couldn't do their job in the absence of air.
And even the most stubborn of ear cups can be jostled enough, during a swim, for water to seep into the ear and render the headset useless.
Bone conduction totally removes that problem, and has the bonus of removing any need for sticking odd-feeling things in the ear canal.
Nothing is for free though, the FINIS Neptune less so than most. The speakers bear a price of $160 / €124 – 160.
It might seem like a lot, but bone conduction isn't exactly widespread. Besides, the Neptune also has 4 GB of memory, which means it is a music player (MP3) too. It's actually advertised as an MP3 player, not headset.
As for everything else, the water resistance holds up to a depth of 3 meters, the battery lasts for up to 8 hours, the connection pins are made of gold (quick song upload and charging while preventing corrosion in the water) and the OLED screen scrolls through artist and songs (also shows playback features). Find more data on the product page, or watch the video below for a demo.
