Wireless in-ear headphones

Types of wireless headphones

Many people use wireless headphones, which often take the form of small, compact, in-ear devices that are inserted directly into the auditory canal. Accordingly, the sound can be generated directly inside the ear. In contrast, over-ear headphones sit over the ears, while on-ear headphones lie on top of the ears and therefore also transmit sound from the outside. In all variants of wireless headphones, the audio signals are transmitted by radio via weak, high-frequency electromagnetic fields. According to current scientific knowledge, these fields are not expected to have any impact on health.

This also applies to the use of Bluetooth in wireless headphones, where there is no scientific evidence of a harmful effect.

The most common wireless technology in these types of headphones is Bluetooth. Here, the headphones receive the signals from the transmitter (e.g. a mobile phone or an audio device that supports Bluetooth) and convert them into audible sound. To control the audio transmission, the headphones send commands back to the transmitter in order to change the volume or accept a phone call.

In doing so, Bluetooth uses a low transmitting power to transfer data. For example, this power is generally much lower than that of a smartphone transmitting data over a mobile communications network or wi-fi.