When we were pumping our LCD Soundsystem mixtape, others in the office said they couldn’t “concentrate” and they “wished we were fired.” For this, and for many other reasons, headphones are an absolute necessity in our daily lives. It was long before Steve Jobs produced white earbuds and Dr. Dre jumped in the game, however, that people began getting tunes pumped into their ear canal. 1895 – Thanks to the Electrophone system, in 1895 folks could start rocking out to the sick beats of the local opera house from the comfort of their own home.
Subscribers to the pricey service would listen through headphones that looked more like stethoscopes than a modern offering as very large people produced very big sound on a stage miles away. They are now extremely rare like an original pair of Nike Air Mag’s or a headphone user without hearing loss. The ESP-6’s clocked in at around two pounds, meaning they weren’t exactly like putting in a pair of earbuds, but were still a long ways from the massive pieces created less than a century before. Included with the purchase of the first Walkman were Sony’s MDL-3L2 headphones and everything you needed to rock out to London Calling while roller skating in your driveway. Both the earbud and the in-ear headphone made their way onto the scene in the 80’s even though they wouldn’t reach their peak in popularity until one Steven Paul Jobs changed the music game years later. 1997 – If you wanted to keep your hair in check but also hated the fact that earbuds couldn’t isolate sound well, Sony thought you might like a pair of neckband headphones.
Though pilots had been using noise-cancelling technology for decades, now passengers could also get some relief on loud flights (or in front of the TV with a nagging spouse). Designed with deep bass and great sound quality in mind (this is debatable), the Beats line quickly grabbed a large market share and could be seen on just about every NBA player as they walked from the bus to the locker room.
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.
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.
Historically, many headphones had relatively high impedance, often over 500 ohms so they could operate well with high-impedance tube amplifiers. 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. 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.
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. Some studies have found that people are more likely to raise volumes to unsafe levels while performing strenuous exercise. 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.
A Partial History of Headphones
As the first affordable, portable music player, the Walkman became such an prominent characteristic of the young urban professional that it was even featured on the cover of The Yuppie Handbook. However, there’s not a singular figure or company who “invented” the headphones, but a few key players who brought them from military bases and switchboards into the home and out to the street. In the 1890s, a British company called Electrophone created a system allowing their customers to connect into live feeds of performances at theaters and opera houses across London. 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 extensive testing and optimization of telephone receivers, Mercadier was able to produce miniature receivers that weighed less than 1 3/4 ounces and were “adapted for insertion into the ear.” His design is an incredible feat of miniaturization and is remarkably similar to contemporary earbud headphones, down to the use of a rubber cover “to lessen the friction against the orifice of the ear… effectually close the ear to external sounds.”
In the years leading up to WWI, it wasn’t uncommon for the Navy to receive letters from small businesses and inventors offering up their unique products and skills. In 1910, a particularly memorable letter written in purple ink on blue and pink paper came from Utah native Nathaniel Baldwin, whose missive arrived with a pair of prototype telephone headsets offered for military testing.
While the request wasn’t immediately taken seriously, the headphones were eventually tested and found to be a drastic improvement over the model then being used by Naval radio operators. In order to increase production, the Navy wanted to move Baldwin out of his Utah kitchen and into much larger East Coast facility. In his book Gramophone, Film, Typewriter, Kittler describes the innovative radar system used by the German Airforce during World War II, which allowed headphone-wearing pilots to reach the destinations and bombers to accurately drop payload 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. Captain Linwood S. Howeth, USN, “The Early Radio Industry and the United States Navy,” History of Communications-Electronics in the United States Navy (1963): 133-152; Peter John Povey and Reg A. J. Earl, Vintage Telephones of the World (London: Peter Peregrinus Ltd., 1988); Friedrich Kittler, Gramophone, Film, Typewriter, trans.
A Brief History of Headphones
Headphones started with phone operators – It was a single earpiece that rested on the user’s shoulder and weighed over 10 pounds. Invented in Britain in the 1890s, this subscription service (£5 a year) allowed customers to dial in to a switchboard and be connected to a live performance from theatres across London.
Rather than make do with radio communication equipment and aviation hardware, Jazz lover Koss came up with something purely for music – and he helped fuel a revolution in the way people listened to it. While MP3 players had been around for a minute, the invention of the iPod took portable digital music to the mainstream with their colorful commercials and clever marketing.
Smithsonian, Captain Linwood S. Howeth, USN, “The Early Radio Industry and the United States Navy,” History of Communications-Electronics in the United States Navy (1963): 133-152; Peter John Povey and Reg A. J. Earl, Vintage Telephones of the World (London: Peter Peregrinus Ltd., 1988); Friedrich Kittler, Gramophone, Film, Typewriter, trans. by Geoffrey Winthop-Young and Michael Wutz (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1999); Virginia Hefferman, “Against Headphones,” The New York Times (January 7, 2011); Mark Schubin “Headphones, History, & Hysteria” (2011), http://www.schubincafe.com/2011/02/11/headphones-history-hysteria/; “Koss History,” http://www.koss.com/en/about/history; Google patents
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And, despite it feeling quite new to not be able to move for fear of knocking the £300-worth of oversized earwear from a hipster’s bonce, headphones have been an essential part of any music enthusiast’s tech armoury for decades. In fact, they’ve been an integral part of music for well over a century, and while strapping two speakers to your head doesn’t sound all that difficult the progress from Ernest Mercadier’s telephonist’s tool to Dr. Dre’s global empire is an oddly compelling one. Neither pair made much of an impression but the original poster provided the template for all headphone ads since – the perfect balance of impressive-sounding tech specs and marketing mumbo-jumbo. Rather than make do with radio communication equipment and aviation hardware, Jazz lover Koss came up with something purely for music – and he helped fuel a revolution in the way people listened to it. Koss dominated the early part of the swinging sixties – thanks to the arrival of cheap turntables and intolerant parents – and can be blamed for the present day dirge of celebrity endorsements. This lightweight game changer was an instant hit, with music fans happy to ditch the bulky closed back claustrophobic cans of old and embrace a smooth clear open sound. The Sony MDR-3L2 headphones were the Apple earbuds of their day, but with only one pair bundled in the box and two sockets for shared listening hundreds of third party knock-offs and fashion focussed alternatives flooded the market. Any colour as long as it’s white (2001 to 2010) Play Apple didn’t invent the earbud but with the launch of the original iPod in 2001 they made a pair of bog standard dirt-attracting, sound-leaking headphones the most desirable thing on the planet.
In fact, Apple’s dominance and the rise of the MP3 player meant the market was soon awash with cheap and cheerful headphones that didn’t have to sound nice to sell by the truckload. But as we’re all now acutely aware, it didn’t stop with the good doctor: Will.i.am, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga and, um, Basketball legend LeBron James all have their own signature designs.
Brands such as Skull Candy, Urbanears and WeSc made a killing going after the hipster and extreme sport brigades, and thanks to the sky high price of Beats the kids were only too happy to part with £70 – £150 for this season’s colourway.
Headphones and Soundbars
With Sennheiser headphones, headsets and soundbars, you can enjoy your favorite music in the best sound quality no matter where you are. Whether you’re on the road or at home, out playing sports or relaxing on the couch – our wide range of versatile headphone models means you can listen to perfect sound, whenever, wherever. Sennheiser offers a huge variety of shapes, sizes and models of headphones so that you can find the perfect one for you: whether on-ear, over-ear or in-ear: Their comfortable fit means they are easy to put on and take off – great for DJs using headphones for long periods of time, but equally suited to your commute to work or around the house. On-ear headphones are also lightweight and often come in a foldable design, which makes them ideal for traveling. Their comfortable fit means they are easy to put on and take off – great for DJs using headphones for long periods of time, but equally suited to your commute to work or around the house.
In-ear headphones are small and light, easy to carry around in a pocket, which makes them perfect for travel. Open headphones deliver high and natural sound fidelity, with hardly any distortion from feedback or reverberation.
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