"Bananas in the ears": how modern headphones appeared

Today it is difficult to imagine our life without headphones. With their help, we not only distract ourselves from the outside world, try to isolate ourselves from the surrounding noise — we work with them, go down to the subway, use them in recording studios and on excursions, we "read" books with them and learn foreign languages. Headphones have become firmly embedded in our lives, and it's hard to imagine how you can do without these portable sound sources.

There was a time when they didn't think about it. Of course, until there was a massive need for portable playback.

(13 photos in total)

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The first evidence of portable listening is more like a legend, but the story described below is real.

Impresario and philanthropist Edward Fry established a telephone connection with the Music Academy of New York and listened to operas while sitting at home. Edward was already a sixty—year-old invalid at that time - he could not come to the auditorium, but he continued to love opera dearly, because he devoted his whole life to it. Moreover, during the audition, he always held and viewed the libretto.

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This year Bella Ezra Gilliland came up with and brought to life a device that can be considered a prototype of modern headphones. Bella worked as a telephone operator, and on duty she had to hold telephone communication devices in her hands for several hours every day (and at that time there were two of them, a receiver and a microphone, and together they weighed about three kilograms). The parts attached to the bent metal base, Gilliland hung on her shoulders.

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French engineer Ernest Mercadier patents a set of plug—in headphones - the ancestors of modern "droplets". For that time, the design was revolutionary — the headphones were several times smaller and lighter than bulky "head" devices and even had some noise reduction effect. The patent was registered under the name "bitelephone".

By the way, speaking of noise reduction, it is worth mentioning the American Amar Bose. It was he, being the leading innovator of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who developed the ANC (Active Noise Cancelling) system, which is used in many advanced models to this day.

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The British company Electrophone System offered consumers the opportunity to listen to broadcasts from several churches and theaters of the country remotely. Such a pleasure cost 5 pounds a year. For this amount, people received a wooden table with several pairs of headphones on a long handle. Of course, users did not have the opportunity to choose their own music.

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In service with the US Air Force, "ears" appear with a metal arc located on the head, not on the shoulders. The drawings and description were suggested by Nathaniel Baldwin.

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The design proposed by Baldwin was modified over time — the head band was covered with leather or fabric, the device itself was significantly lightened for comfort. And in 1921, the first model of headphones, the CW-834, entered the US markets. The device was sold complete with a portable radio receiver manufactured by Western Electric.

Despite the fact that headphones were used everywhere, the sound quality was disgusting. The devices coped with speech acceptably, but they were not suitable for playing music at all.

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The company that was able to shake up the world and release mass-produced headphones for music was originally engaged in the production of televisions. In 1958, John Koss, using parts from the TV, managed to transform the sound quality. The production model was named Koss SP-3.

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The first model created for professionals working with sound appears — Japanese headphones of the electrostatic Stax type (such headphones demonstrate the highest sound quality).

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The first portable Walkman audio player enters the market. The main partner of the production was Sony, which provided light, comfortable headphones complete with the player, thereby opening a mass market of portable devices for listening to music.

Further, the history of headphones is rapidly developing in completely different directions. To create harmony between price and reproduction quality, companies create new radiator designs.

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In 2016, dynamic closed headphones Fostex TH-900 Black Limited Edition enter the market. Despite the electrodynamic type of conversion, the Biodyna-diaphragm allows you to achieve highly professional sound quality. Many professionals working with sound have already called them the best closed dynamic "ears" to date. To feel the fullness of the sound, it will take time to warm up — after 200 hours of listening, the Fostex TH-900 Black Limited Edition will give you such a full and detailed sound that when listening to orchestral recordings, you will hear violinists breathing and pianists rustling their cuffs on the keys while playing.

Manufacturers strive for high sound quality, which means that today you have to pay attention to what kind of music is playing in your headphones. The usual bitrate will be weak, but high-quality recordings will bring a lot of pleasure. Well, as a nice addition — the case of the device is made of Japanese cherry wood.

If a hundred years ago, the creators of headphones sought to enter the mass market, making light and cheap models for everyday use, now special attention is paid to sound quality. It means that in the near future the musical culture will definitely reach a new level. And this can not but rejoice.