In fact, the headphones industry earned around $34.8 billion in 2020 alone or sold as much as 514.5 million units in just one year! Let’s take a dive and see how headphone technology has evolved since the 1880s and what the future holds for this essential wearable tech. Back in the 1880s, switchboard operators used a type of “headphone” invented by Ezra Guilliland that could weigh over 10 pounds. Of course, back in the late 1800s, the use of earbuds or headphones for music listening was far off, and the technology’s application was limited to telephone use.
It looks similar to headphones we use today, except, instead of resting on the top of the head, they were handheld with a rod on the bottom connecting to the earpads. Not realizing the huge potential, Baldwin invented the first headphones in his kitchen in Utah as a device to help him hear the sermons at his local Mormon temple.
The Navy placed a large order of these headphones because of their design that didn’t need an external power source. A series of unwise investments and a stint in prison for mail fraud bankrupted his company.
These early headphones had plastic earcups, a 3-inch speaker, and foam earpads for comfortable wear.
For the first time, the market for headphones extended to include a teen audience and enter pop culture.
In previous years, headphones remained as a listening equipment you use at home, mostly because they didn’t have a portable audio source. But while the technology changed the personal music scene, many users felt that the headphones that came with the Walkman (made from a single metal headband and 2 foam earphones) didn’t offer the best audio quality.
The history of noise-canceling headphones started years earlier, with various designs and patents dating back to the 1950s. This technology proved useful for pilots in the aviation industry, combat vehicle crewmen in the Army. With the rise of portable music devices like cassette tapes, CDs, and minidiscs, views on wearing headphones changed. By transmitting sound directly through the bones of the skull instead of the eardrum, these headphones allowed the user to remain connected to the outside environment.
In time, though, bone conduction headphones expanded to everyday consumers and athletes, with companies such as AfterShokz becoming well-known. There’s no doubt that by the turn of the century, Apple started pulling ahead of the pack in audio and technological advancements.
Just like what happened in the ‘80s with the emergence of the Walkman, the rise of the iPod and mp3 players led to a huge growth in the market for cheap, lightweight earbuds that has largely continued until today. While there had been extensive upgrades to headphones over the decades, one thing had pretty much always been consistent: wires connecting them to the audio source.
Bluetooth technology had been under development since 1999, but while early versions could support voice calls, the bandwidth couldn’t handle streaming studio music. Over the past 20 years, various Bluetooth versions and upgrades have been released, allowing users to connect to their music wirelessly. Beats by Dre became a powerful fashion statement and status symbol, especially after gaining popularity with top NBA players today. The link between headphones and fashion has continued, with hundreds of styles available today for different functions and preferences.
Now, with truly wireless headphones, everything was contained within the earbuds, including the on/off switch, mic, and volume control. While Onkyo may have released the first truly wireless headphones, it didn’t make a bigger impact than Apple’s AirPods.
After their huge success among consumers, more manufacturers and brands have come up with their own versions of AirPods, with some even copying their style outright.
Some headphones can now even act as heart rate monitors, hearing protection devices, or even personal coaches for training or workouts.
The earbuds or headphones of the future could become an all-in-one device to both store, stream, and play music. It might seem crazy to think of today, but what if the headphones of the future looked more like hearing aids – more of a permanent device than one we carry around with us and have to put on and take off?
Over the years, we can expect greater things and additional functions for headphones in our day-to-day lives.
Headphones: A History of the Original Wearable Tech
Early headphones may have been somewhat quaint by today’s standard, but the fundamental technology has been around for more than a century now and hasn’t actually changed all that much. 454,138 for, “improvements in telephone-receivers…which shall be light enough to be carried while in use on the head of the operator.” After some serious testing and refinement, Mercadier was finally able to produce miniature receivers that weighed less than 1 3/4 ounces (about 50 grams).
Amazingly, Mercadier’s earphones even had a rubber cover, “to lessen the friction against the orifice of the ear… effectually close the ear to external sounds.”
In 1906, according to a full-page advertisement in a London telephone directory, there were 14 theaters which subscribers could listen in on any given night, while on Sundays there were 15 different church services they could dial into.
While the electrophone was gaining in popularity on the other side of the Atlantic, Nathaniel Baldwin was sitting at his kitchen table in Utah in 1910, tinkering with coiled copper wiring. Using more than a mile (1.6 km) of wire per earcup, Baldwin had been hoping to find a way to amplify the sound of sermons at his local Mormon temple.
“The military’s deployment of these headphones, which sailors used to isolate sounds broadcast from distant locations, lent them a more intense, solitary aesthetic than the hand-held Electrophone headset,” according to SSense. “An antennae-shaped brass spoke on each earphone, which allowed the headset to be adjusted to various sizes, completed the Jules Verne-esque steampunk look.” The book Gramophone, Film, Typewriter, written by Friedrich Kittler, describes the innovative radar system used by the German Airforce during World War II.
This system allowed headphone-wearing pilots to reach their destinations, and bombers to accurately drop payloads without visually seeing their targets. “Radio beams emitted from the coast facing Britain…formed the sides of an ethereal trailing the apex of which was located precisely above the targeted city. Built with design in mind, this model would prove to be incredibly popular and was enough to make the company shift focus from film equipment to audio gear.
Originally meant to demonstrate the quality of his company’s portable record player–which had a nifty private-listening switch–Koss’ headphones proved to be incredibly popular, just as rock and roll took over the music industry. Just prior to this, in the late-1950s, a company called Stax debuted the world’s first-ever pair of electrostatic headphones. Jettisoning the thick foam cup, the Sennheiser HD414 headphones using an open design, making them lighter and much less bulky.
As Sony was launching a new music revolution with the Walkman in 1979, Dr. Amar Bose was inspired by the awful quality of the headphones given to passengers during air travel.
Apple ended up shipping 600 million sets of first-gen earbuds, launching trillions of knock-offs in the process. Designed to bring back the bass-heavy sound of the older headsets for a new rap and hip-hop influenced music scene, the old over-the-ear earcups made a comeback after nearly a generation of confinement to the homes of dedicated audiophiles. It wasn’t until 2016, when Bragi’s The Headphone, Jabra’s Elite Sport, and Apple’s AirPods came along, that the technology actually worked the way it was supposed to. Since then, many aftermarket manufactures have jumped on the bandwagon, and you can now pick up a fairly decent pair for a price that won’t break the bank. These headphones claim to provide superior sound quality, capacitive touch controls, on-the-move communication, all-day connectivity, and much more.
“Our goal was to create all-in-one headphones that are compatible with every aspect of a user’s day, whether they’re at home, commuting, or in the office. “We’re excited to launch Human Headphones and bring customers a one-of-a-kind device equipped with the latest technology to deliver a seamless listening experience from morning to night,” he added. The integration of renewable charging, smart wearable solutions, and innovations in hearing protection is another potential future direction for technology.
It is also quite plausible that the future may well include a custom-fit headphone or earbud design tailored to the unique shape of each consumer’s ear, especially as 3D printing continues its penetration into society. Through their long history, headphones have always retained their essential function of helping to deliver the soundtrack to our lives.
History of Truly Wireless Earphones
Gone are the days where we spent our precious time untangling the crumpled and twisting the irritating earphone wire that ended up spoiling our entire mood before we even began watching our flick or listening to our favourite artist! Once all the major brands like Apple, Samsung, Google, Oneplus, Oppo, Hammer, Boat, and many others stepped up and created this whole new category of earphones which were completely wireless and offered the best, hassle-free, and convenient audio experience.
The TWS earphones were finally affordable and offered a good price to quality ratio and that too through various forms of factors and feature sets.
Headphones
Headphones let a single user listen to an audio source privately, in contrast to a loudspeaker, which emits sound into the open air for anyone nearby to hear. Another type, known as earbuds or earpieces[1] consist of individual units that plug into the user’s ear canal. Headphones connect to a signal source such as an audio amplifier, radio, CD player, portable media player, mobile phone, video game console, or electronic musical instrument, either directly using a cord, or using wireless technology such as Bluetooth, DECT or FM radio. Initially the audio quality was mediocre and a step forward was the invention of high fidelity headphones. Some stereo earbuds are wireless, using Bluetooth connectivity to transmit the audio signal by radio waves from source devices like cellphones and digital players. By the 1890s the first device that is unmistakably a headphone was made by a British company called Electrophone, which created a system allowing their customers to connect into live feeds of performances at theaters and opera houses across London.
Subscribers to the service could listen to the performance through a pair of massive earphones that connected below the chin, held by a long rod. Nathaniel Baldwin of Utah in 1910 invented a prototype telephone headset due to his inability to hear sermons during Sunday service.
Wireless Specialty Apparatus Co., in partnership with Baldwin Radio Company, set up a manufacturing facility in Utah to fulfill orders. His innovations were the basis of “sound-powered” telephones or phones that required no electricity, which were used during World War II. Headphones originated from the telephone receiver earpiece, and were the only way to listen to electrical audio signals before amplifiers were developed. The common single-ended type used voice coils wound around the poles of a permanent magnet, which were positioned close to a flexible steel diaphragm.
The requirement for high sensitivity meant that no damping was used, so the frequency response of the diaphragm had large peaks due to resonance, resulting in poor sound quality. In early powered radios, the headphone was part of the vacuum tube’s plate circuit and carried dangerous voltages. Smaller earbud type earpieces, which plugged into the user’s ear canal, were first developed for hearing aids.
In the professional audio sector, headphones are used in live situations by disc jockeys with a DJ mixer, and sound engineers for monitoring signal sources. In radio studios, DJs use a pair of headphones when talking to the microphone while the speakers are turned off to eliminate acoustic feedback while monitoring their own voice. As active component, wireless headphones tend to be costlier due to the necessity for internal hardware such as a battery, a charging controller, a speaker driver, and a wireless transceiver, whereas wired headphones are a passive component, outsourcing speaker driving to the audio source. Wired headphones may be equipped with a non-detachable cable or a detachable auxiliary male-to-male plug, as well as some with two ports to allow connecting another wired headphone in a parallel circuit, which splits the audio signal to share with another participant, but can also be used to hear audio from two inputs simultaneously. [13] Specific models of headphones have been adopted as the standard due to the ease of calibration and ability to compare results between testing facilities.
Supra-aural style headphones are historically the most commonly used in audiology as they are the easiest to calibrate and were considered the standard for many years. Circum-aural earphones are also used to establish hearing thresholds in the extended high frequency range (8,000 Hz to 20,000 kHz). Calibration is done with the earphones in an acoustic coupler that is intended to mimic the transfer function of the outer ear. In recent years, impedance of newer headphones has generally decreased to accommodate lower voltages available on battery powered CMOS-based portable electronics.
To ensure an even frequency response, adequate damping factor, and undistorted sound, an amplifier should have an output impedance less than 1/8 that of the headphones it is driving (and ideally, as low as possible). Higher impedance headphones are more tolerant of amplifier limitations, but produce less volume for a given output level. In contrast, modern transistor amplifiers can have very low output impedance, enabling lower-impedance headphones. Unfortunately, this means that older audio amplifiers or stereos often produce poor-quality output on some modern, low-impedance headphones. The maximum sound pressure level is a matter of preference, with some sources recommending no higher than 110 to 120 dB. [20] Using this standard, headphones with sensitivities of 90, 100 and 110 dB (SPL)/V should be driven by an amplifier capable of no more than 3.162, 1.0 and 0.3162 RMS volts at maximum volume setting, respectively to reduce the risk of hearing damage.
Generally, headphone form factors can be divided into four separate categories: circumaural (over-ear), supra-aural (on-ear), earbud and in-ear. [22] They provide hardly any acoustic isolation and leave room for ambient noise to seep in; users may turn up the volume dangerously high to compensate, at the risk of causing hearing loss. Since the early days of the transistor radio, earphones have commonly been bundled with personal music devices. The outer shells of in-ear headphones are made up of a variety of materials, such as plastic, aluminum, ceramic and other metal alloys. Because in-ear headphones engage the ear canal, they can be prone to sliding out, and they block out much environmental noise. Generic or custom-fitting ear canal plugs are made from silicone rubber, elastomer, or foam.
Custom in-ear headphones use castings of the ear canal to create custom-molded plugs that provide added comfort and noise isolation. Among applications for headsets, besides telephone use, are aviation, theatre or television studio intercom systems, and console or PC gaming. Most models of telephone amplifiers offer volume control for loudspeaker as well as microphone, mute function and switching between headset and handset. Active noise-cancelling headphones use a microphone, amplifier, and speaker to pick up, amplify, and play ambient noise in phase-reversed form; this to some extent cancels out unwanted noise from the environment without affecting the desired sound source, which is not picked up and reversed by the microphone.
Electrostatic drivers consist of a thin, electrically charged diaphragm, typically a coated PET film membrane, suspended between two perforated metal plates (electrodes). Air is forced through the perforations; combined with a continuously changing electrical signal driving the membrane, a sound wave is generated.
Due to the extremely thin and light diaphragm membrane, often only a few micrometers thick, and the complete absence of moving metalwork, the frequency response of electrostatic headphones usually extends well above the audible limit of approximately 20 kHz. The high-frequency response means that the low-midband distortion level is maintained to the top of the audible frequency band, which is generally not the case with moving coil drivers.
Also, the frequency response peakiness regularly seen in the high-frequency region with moving coil drivers is absent.
Patent applications from 2009 to 2013 have been approved that show by using different materials, i.e. a “Fluorinated cyclic olefin electret film”, Frequency response chart readings can reach 50 kHz at 100db.
A planar magnetic driver consists of a relatively large membrane that contains an embedded wire pattern. As illustrated in the second diagram, when there is electric current through the coil, it magnetizes the armature one way or the other, causing it to rotate slightly one way or the other about the pivot thus moving the diaphragm to make sound.
The design is not mechanically stable; a slight imbalance makes the armature stick to one pole of the magnet. [clarification needed] Popularized in the 1920s as Baldwin Mica Diaphragm radio headphones, balanced armature transducers were refined during World War II for use in military sound powered telephones. Some of these achieved astonishing electro-acoustic conversion efficiencies, in the range of 20% to 40%, for narrow bandwidth voice signals.
Today they are typically used only in in-ear headphones and hearing aids, where their high efficiency and diminutive size is a major advantage. [29] They generally are limited at the extremes of the hearing spectrum (e.g. below 20 Hz and above 16 kHz) and require a better seal than other types of drivers to deliver their full potential. Higher-end models may employ multiple armature drivers, dividing the frequency ranges between them using a passive crossover network.
In 2013 a carbon nanotube thin-yarn earphone based on the thermoacoustic mechanism was demonstrated by a research group in Tsinghua University. Transducer technologies employed much less commonly for headphones include the Heil Air Motion Transformer (AMT); Piezoelectric film; Ribbon planar magnetic; Magnetostriction and Plasma-ionisation. The folded shape of a diaphragm allows a transducer with a larger surface area to fit within smaller space constraints. Magnetostriction headphones, sometimes sold under the label Bonephones, work by vibrating against the side of head, transmitting sound via bone conduction. This is particularly helpful in situations where the ears must be unobstructed, or for people who are deaf for reasons that don’t affect the nervous apparatus of hearing. While a loudspeaker must use a relatively large (often 15″ or 18″) speaker driver to reproduce low frequencies, headphones can accurately reproduce bass and sub-bass frequencies with speaker drivers only 40-50 millimeters wide (or much smaller, as is the case with in-ear monitor headphones).
Headphones’ impressive low-frequency performance is possible because they are so much closer to the ear that they only need to move relatively small volumes of air. Through most headphones, because the right and left channels do not combine in this manner, the illusion of the phantom center can be perceived as lost. It is possible to change the spatial effects of stereo sound on headphones, to better approximate the presentation of speaker reproduction, by using frequency-dependent cross-feed between the channels.
They allow call center agents to maintain better posture without needing to hand-hold a handset or tilt their head sideways to cradle it. Using headphones at a sufficiently high volume level may cause temporary or permanent hearing impairment or deafness. The headphone volume often has to compete with the background noise, especially in loud places such as subway stations, aircraft, and large crowds.
“[37] The International Telecommunication Union recently published “Guidelines for safe listening devices/systems” recommended that sound exposure not exceed 80 decibels, A-weighted dB(A) for a maximum of 40 hours per week. Most major manufactures of smartphones now include some safety or volume limiting features and warning messaging in their devices.
[39][40] though such practices have received mixed response from some segments of the buying who favor the personal choice of setting their own volume levels. This has the additional undesirable effect of being dependent of the efficiency of the headphones; a device producing the maximum allowed power may not produce adequate volume when paired with low-efficiency, high-impedance equipment, while the same amount of power can reach dangerous levels with very efficient earphones. Hearing risk from headphones’ use also applies to workers who must wear electronic or communication headsets as part of their daily job (i.e., pilots, call center and dispatch operators, sound engineers, firefighters, etc.) The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recommends sound exposure not exceed 85 dB(A) over 8 hour work day as a time-weighted average.
NIOSH published several documents targeted at protecting the hearing of workers who must wear communication headsets such as call center operators,[46] firefighters,[47] and musicians and sound engineers.
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances using UHF radio waves in the ISM bands, from 2.402 GHz to 2.48 GHz, and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limited to 2.5 milliwatts, giving it a very short range of up to 10 meters (30 feet). The Bluetooth SIG oversees development of the specification, manages the qualification program, and protects the trademarks.
As of 2009 , Bluetooth integrated circuit chips ship approximately 920 million units annually. [6] By 2017, there were 3.6 billion Bluetooth devices shipping annually and the shipments were expected to continue increasing at about 12% a year. The name was inspired by a conversation with Sven Mattisson who related Scandinavian history through tales from Frans G. Bengtsson’s The Long Ships, a historical novel about Vikings and the 10th-century Danish king Harald Bluetooth. Kardach was later quoted as saying, “King Harald Bluetooth…was famous for uniting Scandinavia just as we intended to unite the PC and cellular industries with a short-range wireless link.” Bluetooth was only intended as a placeholder until marketing could come up with something really cool. The development of the “short-link” radio technology, later named Bluetooth, was initiated in 1989 by Nils Rydbeck, CTO at Ericsson Mobile in Lund, Sweden.
Nils Rydbeck tasked Tord Wingren with specifying and Dutchman Jaap Haartsen and Sven Mattisson with developing.
The conclusion was that power consumption on cellphone technology at that time was too high to allow viable integration into a notebook and still achieve adequate battery life. It was a hands-free mobile headset that earned the “Best of show Technology Award” at COMDEX. The first Bluetooth mobile phone was the Ericsson T36 but it was the revised T39 model that actually made it to store shelves in 2001.
Bluetooth’s early incorporation into consumer electronics products continued at Vosi Technologies in Costa Mesa, California, USA, initially overseen by founding members Bejan Amini and Tom Davidson. Vosi Technologies had been created by real estate developer Ivano Stegmenga, with United States Patent 608507, for communication between a cellular phone and a vehicle’s audio system. Due to ongoing negotiations for an intended licensing agreement with Motorola beginning in the late 1990s, Vosi could not publicly disclose the intention, integration and initial development of other enabled devices which were to be the first “Smart Home” internet connected devices.
Vosi needed a means for the system to communicate without a wired connection from the vehicle to the other devices in the network.
Bluetooth was chosen, since WiFi was not yet readily available or supported in the public market. Through the negotiations with Motorola, Vosi introduced and disclosed its intent to integrate Bluetooth in its devices. In the early 2000s a legal battle ensued between Vosi and Motorola, which indefinitely suspended release of the devices. [23] This is in the globally unlicensed (but not unregulated) industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) 2.4 GHz short-range radio frequency band.
Since the introduction of Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, π/4-DQPSK (differential quadrature phase-shift keying) and 8-DPSK modulation may also be used between compatible devices.
The term Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) is used to describe π/4-DPSK (EDR2) and 8-DPSK (EDR3) schemes, each giving 2 and 3 Mbit/s respectively. In 2019, Apple published an extension called HDR which supports data rates of 4 (HDR4) and 8 (HDR8) Mbit/s using π/4-DQPSK modulation on 4MHz channels with forward error correction (FEC) [1]. All devices within a given piconet use the clock provided by the master as the base for packet exchange.
The above excludes Bluetooth Low Energy, introduced in the 4.0 specification, which uses the same spectrum but somewhat differently. At any given time, data can be transferred between the master and one other device (except for the little-used broadcast mode).
(m) (mW) (dBm) 1 100 20 ~100 1.5 10 10 ~20 2 2.5 4 ~10 3 1 0 ~1 4 0.5 −3 ~0.5 Source:BT 5 Vol 6 Part A Sect 3,Bluetooth Technology Website Bluetooth is a standard wire-replacement communications protocol primarily designed for low power consumption, with a short range based on low-cost transceiver microchips in each device.
[26] Because the devices use a radio (broadcast) communications system, they do not have to be in visual line of sight of each other; however, a quasi optical wireless path must be viable. Most Bluetooth applications are for indoor conditions, where attenuation of walls and signal fading due to signal reflections make the range far lower than specified line-of-sight ranges of the Bluetooth products. Adherence to profiles saves the time for transmitting the parameters anew before the bi-directional link becomes effective. There are a wide range of Bluetooth profiles that describe many different types of applications or use cases for devices.
This category of applications is sometimes called wireless local area networks (WLAN).
Bluetooth serves well in simple applications where two devices need to connect with a minimal configuration like a button press, as in headsets and speakers. Bluetooth exists in numerous products such as telephones, speakers, tablets, media players, robotics systems, laptops, and console gaming equipment as well as some high definition headsets, modems, hearing aids[47] and even watches. [48] Given the variety of devices which use the Bluetooth, coupled with the contemporary deprecation of headphone jacks by Apple, Google, and other companies, and the lack of regulation by the FCC, the technology is prone to interference.
While some desktop computers and most recent laptops come with a built-in Bluetooth radio, others require an external adapter, typically in the form of a small USB “dongle.” For Microsoft platforms, Windows XP Service Pack 2 and SP3 releases work natively with Bluetooth v1.1, v2.0 and v2.0+EDR.
[53] Previous versions required users to install their Bluetooth adapter’s own drivers, which were not directly supported by Microsoft.
[53] It is generally recommended to install the latest vendor driver and its associated stack to be able to use the Bluetooth device at its fullest extent.
The BlueZ stack is included with most Linux kernels and was originally developed by Qualcomm. [56] Fluoride, earlier known as Bluedroid is included in Android OS and was originally developed by Broadcom. [63] A netgraph-based implementation from FreeBSD has also been available in the tree, possibly disabled until 2014-11-15, and may require more work. [67] It was established by Ericsson, IBM, Intel, Nokia and Toshiba, and later joined by many other companies.
Core Specification Addendum (CSA), release cycle can be as tight as a few times per year
Extended Synchronous Connections (eSCO), which improve voice quality of audio links by allowing retransmissions of corrupted packets, and may optionally increase audio latency to provide better concurrent data transfer.
[71] EDR uses a combination of GFSK and phase-shift keying modulation (PSK) with two variants, π/4-DQPSK and 8-DPSK. [73] EDR can provide a lower power consumption through a reduced duty cycle.
Aside from EDR, the v2.0 specification contains other minor improvements, and products may claim compliance to “Bluetooth v2.0” without supporting the higher data rate. Version 2.1 allows various other improvements, including extended inquiry response (EIR), which provides more information during the inquiry procedure to allow better filtering of devices before connection; and sniff subrating, which reduces the power consumption in low-power mode.
The Bluetooth radio is still used for device discovery, initial connection and profile configuration. This means that Bluetooth uses proven low power connection models when the system is idle, and the faster radio when it must send large quantities of data.
It is intended for use by applications that require low latency between user action and reconnection/transmission of data. Enhanced power control removes the ambiguities by specifying the behavior that is expected.
The feature also adds closed loop power control, meaning RSSI filtering can start as the response is received. WiMedia has transferred all current and future specifications, including work on future high-speed and power-optimized implementations, to the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), Wireless USB Promoter Group and the USB Implementers Forum.
After successful completion of the technology transfer, marketing, and related administrative items, the WiMedia Alliance ceased operations.
A small, but significant, number of former WiMedia members had not and would not sign up to the necessary agreements for the IP transfer.
As of 2009, the Bluetooth SIG was in the process of evaluating other options for its longer term roadmap. Chip designs allow for two types of implementation, dual-mode, single-mode and enhanced past versions.
In terms of lengthening the battery life of Bluetooth devices, BLE represents a significant progression. Cost-reduced single-mode chips, which enable highly integrated and compact devices, feature a lightweight Link Layer providing ultra-low power idle mode operation, simple device discovery, and reliable point-to-multipoint data transfer with advanced power-save and secure encrypted connections at the lowest possible cost.
General improvements in version 4.0 include the changes necessary to facilitate BLE modes, as well the Generic Attribute Profile (GATT) and Security Manager (SM) services with AES Encryption. Core Specification Addendum 2 was unveiled in December 2011; it contains improvements to the audio Host Controller Interface and to the High Speed (802.11) Protocol Adaptation Layer. The update incorporates Bluetooth Core Specification Addenda (CSA 1, 2, 3 & 4) and adds new features that improve consumer usability. Notice that some features were already available in a Core Specification Addendum (CSA) before the release of v4.1. Older Bluetooth hardware may receive 4.2 features such as Data Packet Length Extension and improved privacy via firmware updates. Sony was the first to announce Bluetooth 5.0 support with its Xperia XZ Premium in Feb 2017 during the Mobile World Congress 2017.
The increase in transmissions could be important for Internet of Things devices, where many nodes connect throughout a whole house.
Minor Enhancements batch 1: HCI support for debug keys in LE Secure Connections Sleep clock accuracy update mechanism ADI field in scan response data Interaction between QoS and Flow Specification Block Host channel classification for secondary advertising Allow the SID to appear in scan response reports Specify the behavior when rules are violated BT LE Audio was announced in January 2020 at CES by the Bluetooth SIG. The hardware that makes up the Bluetooth device is made up of, logically, two parts; which may or may not be physically separate.
A radio device, responsible for modulating and transmitting the signal; and a digital controller. The Link Controller is responsible for the processing of the baseband and the management of ARQ and physical layer FEC protocols. In addition, it handles the transfer functions (both asynchronous and synchronous), audio coding (e.g. SBC (codec)) and data encryption. To do this, the CPU runs software called Link Manager that has the function of communicating with other devices through the LMP protocol.
In addition, devices that communicate with Bluetooth almost universally can use these protocols: HCI and RFCOMM. One of the most important HCI tasks that must be performed is the automatic discovery of other Bluetooth devices that are within the coverage radius.
Only L2CAP channels configured in ERTM or SM may be operated over AMP logical links. Radio Frequency Communications (RFCOMM) is a cable replacement protocol used for generating a virtual serial data stream. RFCOMM provides a simple, reliable, data stream to the user, similar to TCP. It is used directly by many telephony related profiles as a carrier for AT commands, as well as being a transport layer for OBEX over Bluetooth. Many Bluetooth applications use RFCOMM because of its widespread support and publicly available API on most operating systems. Its main purpose is the transmission of IP packets in the Personal Area Networking Profile.
In addition, packets with CRC will be retransmitted until acknowledged by automatic repeat request (ARQ). Technical information (for example: device features, manufacturer, Bluetooth specification used, clock offset)
Most cellular phones and laptops show only the Bluetooth names and special programs are required to get additional information about remote devices.
At the same time, it is useful for Bluetooth devices to be able to establish a connection without user intervention (for example, as soon as in range).
The pairing process is triggered either by a specific request from a user to generate a bond (for example, the user explicitly requests to “Add a Bluetooth device”), or it is triggered automatically when connecting to a service where (for the first time) the identity of a device is required for security purposes. During pairing, the two devices establish a relationship by creating a shared secret known as a link key.
Secure Simple Pairing uses a form of public-key cryptography, and some types can help protect against man in the middle, or MITM attacks. This method is typically used by headsets with minimal IO capabilities, and is more secure than the fixed PIN mechanism this limited set of devices uses for legacy pairing.
This method provides MITM protection, assuming the user confirms on both devices and actually performs the comparison properly. Pairing is completed using the Bluetooth radio, but requires information from the OOB mechanism. Secure Simple Pairing uses a form of public-key cryptography, and some types can help protect against man in the middle, or MITM attacks. Using OOB with NFC enables pairing when devices simply get close, rather than requiring a lengthy discovery process.
Link keys may be stored on the device file system, not on the Bluetooth chip itself. Bluetooth implements confidentiality, authentication and key derivation with custom algorithms based on the SAFER+ block cipher. Those keys, used for subsequent encryption of data sent via the air interface, rely on the Bluetooth PIN, which has been entered into one or both devices. In September 2008, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published a Guide to Bluetooth Security as a reference for organizations.
Users and organizations must evaluate their acceptable level of risk and incorporate security into the lifecycle of Bluetooth devices. In 2001, Jakobsson and Wetzel from Bell Laboratories discovered flaws in the Bluetooth pairing protocol and also pointed to vulnerabilities in the encryption scheme.
Digital Ltd. discovered that serious flaws in some poor implementations of Bluetooth security may lead to disclosure of personal data. [124] In a subsequent experiment, Martin Herfurt from the trifinite.group was able to do a field-trial at the CeBIT fairgrounds, showing the importance of the problem to the world. [125] In 2004 the first purported virus using Bluetooth to spread itself among mobile phones appeared on the Symbian OS.
[126] The virus was first described by Kaspersky Lab and requires users to confirm the installation of unknown software before it can propagate.
Thus, it should be regarded as a potential (but not real) security threat to Bluetooth technology or Symbian OS since the virus has never spread outside of this system. [127] This poses a potential security threat because it enables attackers to access vulnerable Bluetooth devices from a distance beyond expectation.
The worm is self-installing and begins once the mobile user approves the transfer of the file (Velasco.sis) from another device. In April 2005, Cambridge University security researchers published results of their actual implementation of passive attacks against the PIN-based pairing between commercial Bluetooth devices. They confirmed that attacks are practicably fast, and the Bluetooth symmetric key establishment method is vulnerable. To rectify this vulnerability, they designed an implementation that showed that stronger, asymmetric key establishment is feasible for certain classes of devices, such as mobile phones.
In June 2005, Yaniv Shaked[131] and Avishai Wool[132] published a paper describing both passive and active methods for obtaining the PIN for a Bluetooth link. Also, this active attack probably requires custom hardware, since most commercially available Bluetooth devices are not capable of the timing necessary.
In August 2005, police in Cambridgeshire, England, issued warnings about thieves using Bluetooth enabled phones to track other devices left in cars. Police are advising users to ensure that any mobile networking connections are de-activated if laptops and other devices are left in this way. In April 2006, researchers from Secure Network and F-Secure published a report that warns of the large number of devices left in a visible state, and issued statistics on the spread of various Bluetooth services and the ease of spread of an eventual Bluetooth worm. In October 2006, at the Luxemburgish Hack.lu Security Conference, Kevin Finistere and Thierry Zoller demonstrated and released a remote root shell via Bluetooth on Mac OS X v10.3.9 and v10.4. They also demonstrated the first Bluetooth PIN and Linkkeys cracker, which is based on the research of Wool and Shaked. In April 2017, security researchers at Armis discovered multiple exploits in the Bluetooth software in various platforms, including Microsoft Windows, Linux, Apple iOS, and Google Android.
Armis contacted Google, Microsoft, Apple, Samsung and Linux developers allowing them to patch their software before the coordinated announcement of the vulnerabilities on 12 September 2017. Also, in October 2018, Karim Lounis, a network security researcher at Queen’s University, identified a security vulnerability, called CDV (Connection Dumping Vulnerability), on various Bluetooth devices that allows an attacker to tear down an existing Bluetooth connection and cause the deauthentication and disconnection of the involved devices.
In August 2019, security researchers at the Singapore University of Technology and Design, Helmholtz Center for Information Security, and University of Oxford discovered a vulnerability in the key negotiation that would “brute force the negotiated encryption keys, decrypt the eavesdropped ciphertext, and inject valid encrypted messages (in real-time)”. No specific harm has been demonstrated, even though wireless transmission has been included by IARC in the possible carcinogen list.
Even the maximum power output of class 1 is a lower level than the lowest-powered mobile phones. [146] The Breakthrough Awards[147] Bluetooth program highlights the most innovative products and applications available today, prototypes coming soon, and student-led projects in the making.
All ears! A pictorial history of Bluetooth headsets. Part 1
It may be named after a 10th-century Danish king with a passion for tooth-staining blueberries, but Bluetooth is now very much a 21st century technology. Ten years ago they made you look like a Trekkie and gave you little more than fifteen minutes of talk time.
Nonetheless it served as a platform for the development of BT audio, use cases and user experience and is a crucial part of Nokia’s Bluetooth history. It hit the shelves in April and a year or so later it was replaced with the engine colored update, the HDW-3.
It has BT HS, HFP, A2DP and AVRCP profiles, FM RDS radio, caller ID, track name, MP3 direct streaming, radio station names, indications from SMS, missed calls and a clock synchronized from the phone. So we took an earlier concept design and reduced it by innovating Printed Wireless Board technology.
If so, keep an eye out for Part 2 of Olli-Pekka’s history to see how the amazing evolution has continued until the present day.
Be First to Comment