Assignment No.

1 Information Search : HEADPHONE

Headphones are a pair of small loudspeakers which are designed to be held in place close to a user's ears. Headphones have wires which allow them to be connected to a signal source such as an audio amplifier, radio, CD player, or portable media player. They are also known as stereophones or, colloquially, cans. The in-ear versions are known as earphones or earbuds. In the context of telecommunication, the term headset is used to describe a combination of headphone and microphone.

History

Brandes radio headphones, circa 1920. Headphones originated from the earpiece, and were the only way to listen to electrical audio signals before amplifiers were developed. The first truly successful set was developed by Nathaniel Baldwin, who made them by hand in his kitchen and sold them to the United States Navy.[2][3] Very sensitive headphones such as those manufactured by Brandes around 1919 were commonly used for early radio work. These early headphones used moving iron drivers, either single ended or balanced armature. The requirement for high sensitivity meant no damping was used, thus the sound quality was crude. They also had very poor comfort compared to modern types, usually having no padding and too often having excessive clamping force to the head. Their impedance varied; headphones used in telegraph and telephone work had an impedance of 75 ohms. Those used with early wireless radio had to be more sensitive and were made with more turns of finer wire; impedance of 1,000 to 2,000 ohms was common, which suited both crystal sets and triode receivers.

In early powered radios, the headphone was part of the vacuum tube's plate circuit and had dangerous voltages on it. It was normally connected directly to the positive high voltage battery terminal, and the other battery terminal was securely earthed. The use of bare electrical connections meant that users could be shocked if they touched the bare headphone connections while adjusting an uncomfortable headset.

Applications

Sennheiser HD555 headphones, used in audio production environments Headphones may be used both with fixed equipment such as CD or DVD players, home theater, personal computers and with portable devices (e.g. digital audio player/mp3 player, mobile phone, etc.). Cordless headphones are not connected via a wire, receiving a radio or infrared signal encoded using a radio or infrared transmission link, like FM, Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. These are actually made of powered receiver systems of which the headphone is only a component, these types of cordless headphones are being used more frequently with events such as a Silent disco or Silent Gig. 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 and monitor their own voice. In studio recordings, musicians and singers use headphones to play along to a backing track. In the military, audio signals of many varieties are monitored using headphones. Wired headphones are attached to an audio source. The most common connection standards are 6.35mm () and 3.5mm TRS connectors and sockets. The larger 6.35mm connector tending to be found on fixed location home or professional equipment. Sony introduced the smaller, and now widely used, 3.5mm "minijack" stereo connector in 1979, adapting the older monophonic 3.5mm connector for use with its Walkman portable stereo tape player and the 3.5mm connector remains the common connector for portable application today. Adapters are available for converting between 6.35mm and 3.5mm devices.

Types
The particular needs of the listener determine the choice of headphone. The need for portability indicates smaller, lighter headphones but can mean a compromise in fidelity. Headphones used as part of a home hi-fi do not have the same design constraints and can be larger and heavier. Generally, headphone form factors can be divided into four separate categories: circumaural, supra-aural, earbud, and in-ear.

Circumaural headphones have large pads that surround the outer ear.

A pair of supra-aural headphones. [edit] Circumaural

Circumaural headphones (sometimes called full size headphones) have circular or ellipsoid earpads that encompass the ears. Because these headphones completely surround the ear, circumaural headphones can be designed to fully seal against the head to attenuate any intrusive external noise. Because of their size, circumaural headphones can be heavy and there are some sets which weigh over 500 grams (1 lb). Ergonomic headband and earpad design is required to reduce discomfort resulting from weight.
[edit] Supra-aural

Supra-aural headphones have pads that sit on top of the ears, rather than around them. They were commonly bundled with personal stereos during the 1980s. This type of headphone

generally tends to be smaller and lighter than circumaural headphones, resulting in less attenuation of outside noise.
[edit] Open or closed back

Circumaural and supra-aural headphones can both also be further differentiated by the type of earcups: Open-back headphones have the back of the earcups open. This leaks more sound out of the headphone and also lets more ambient sounds into the headphone, but gives a more natural or speaker-like sound and more spacious "soundscape" - the perception of distance from the source. Closed-back (or sealed) styles have the back of the earcups closed. Depending on the model they may block 8-32db of ambient noise, but have a smaller soundscape, giving the wearer a perception that the sound is coming from within their head.[6], one reason for this is that there are sounds reflected back towards the ear.
[edit] Ear-fitting headphones [edit] Earbuds

Earbuds/earphones sit in the outer ear

In-ear monitors extend into the ear canal, providing isolation from outside noise.

Among audio professionals, earbuds and earphones refer to very small headphones that are fitted directly in the outer ear, facing but not inserted in the ear canal; they have no band or other

arrangement to fit over the head. (However, many consumer-quality in-ear-canal systems are also called earbuds by their manufacturers.[7]) The outer-ear earphones are portable and convenient, but many people consider them to be uncomfortable and prone to falling out.[8] Various models are available, starting at very low prices. 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.[8][9] From about 1990 earbuds have commonly been bundled with personal music devices.
[edit] In-ear headphones Main article: In-ear monitors

In-ear headphones, like earbuds, are small and without headband, but are inserted in the ear canal itself. They are sometimes known as canalphones. Price and quality range from relatively inexpensive to very high; the better ones are called in-ear monitors (IEMs) and are used by audio engineers and musicians as well as audiophiles. Canalphones offer portability similar to earbuds, block out much environmental noise by obstructing the ear canals, and are far less prone to falling out. When used for casual portable use they block out sounds which can be important for safety (e.g., approaching vehicles).

Universal canalphones provide one or more stock silicone rubber, elastomer, or foam sleeves to fit various ear canals, for correct placement and best noise isolation. Custom canalphones are fitted to the ears of the individual user: castings of the ear canals are made, and the manufacturer uses the castings to create custom-molded silicone rubber or elastomer plugs that provide added comfort and noise isolation.[8] Because of the individualized labor involved, custom IEMs are more expensive than universal IEMs; resale value is very low as they are unlikely to fit other people.

[edit] Headset Main article: Headset (audio)

A typical example of a headset used for voice chats.

A headset is a headphone combined with a microphone. Headsets provide the equivalent functionality of a telephone handset with hands-free operation. Among applications for headsets, besides telephone use, are aviation, theatre or television studio intercom systems, and console or PC gaming. Headsets are made with either a single-earpiece (mono) or a double-earpiece (mono to both ears or stereo). The microphone arm of headsets is either an external microphone type where the microphone is held in front of the user's mouth, or a voicetube type where the microphone is housed in the earpiece and speech reaches it by means of a hollow tube. Some headsets come in a choice of either behind-the-neck or no-headband design instead of the traditional over-the-head band.
[edit] Telephone headsets

Telephone headsets connect to a fixed-line telephone system. A telephone headset functions by replacing the handset of a telephone. Headsets for standard corded telephones are fitted with a standard 4P4C commonly called an RJ-9 connector. Headsets are also available with 2.5mm jack sockets for many DECT phones and other applications. Cordless bluetooth headsets are available, and often used with mobile telephones. Headsets are widely used for telephoneintensive jobs, in particular by call centre workers. They are also used by anyone wishing to hold telephone conversations with both hands free. For older models of telephones, the headset microphone impedance is different from that of the original handset, requiring a telephone amplifier for the telephone headset. A telephone amplifier provides basic pin-alignment similar to a telephone headset adaptor, but it also offers sound amplification for the microphone as well as the loudspeakers. Most models of telephone amplifiers offer volume control for loudspeaker as well as microphone, mute function and switching between headset and handset. Telephone amplifiers are powered by batteries or AC adaptors.

Ambient noise reduction

Benefits and limitations Two Sony MDR-V6 headphones; one folded for travel

Headphones may be used to prevent other people from hearing the sound either for privacy or to prevent disturbance, as in listening in a public library. They can also provide a level of sound fidelity greater than loudspeakers of similar cost. Part of their ability to do so comes from the lack of any need to perform room correction treatments with headphones. High quality headphones can have an extremely flat low-frequency response down to 20 Hz within 3dB. Marketed claims such as 'frequency response 4 Hz to 20 kHz' are usually overstatements; the product's response at frequencies lower than 20 Hz is typically very small. [10]

Headphones are also useful for video games that use 3D positional audio processing algorithms, as they allow players to better judge the position of an off-screen sound source (such as the footsteps of an opponent).

Although modern headphones have been particularly widely sold and used for listening to stereo recordings since the release of the Walkman, there is subjective debate regarding the nature of their reproduction of stereo sound. Stereo recordings represent the position of horizontal depth cues (stereo separation) via volume and phase differences of the sound in question between the two channels. When the sounds from two speakers mix, they create the phase difference the brain uses to locate direction. 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. Hard panned sounds will also only be heard only in one ear rather than from one side.

Binaural recordings use a different microphone technique to encode direction directly as phase, with very little amplitude difference below 2 kHz, often using a dummy head, and can produce a surprisingly life-like spatial impression through headphones. Commercial recordings almost always use stereo, rather than binaural, recording, because loudspeaker listening has been more popular than headphone listening.

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, or better stilla Blumlein shuffler (a custom EQ employed to augment the low-frequency content of the difference information in a stereo signal). While cross-feed can reduce the unpleasantness that some listeners find with hard panned stereo in headphones, a dummy head recording with artificial pinnae, played through headphones, can give the experience of hearing the performance as though situated in the position of the dummy head[citation needed]. Optimal sound is achieved when the dummy head matches the listener's head, since pinnae vary greatly in size and shape.

Headsets can have ergonomic benefits over traditional telephone handsets. They allow call center agents to maintain better posture without needing to hand-hold a handset or tilt their head sideways to cradle it.[11] [edit] Dangers and volume solutions See also: Automatic Volume Limiter

Using headphones at a sufficiently high volume level may cause temporary or permanent hearing impairment or deafness due to an effect called "masking." The headphone volume has to compete with the background noise, especially in excessively loud places such as subway stations, aircraft, and large crowds. Extended periods of the excessively loud volume may be damaging;[12][13] however, one hearing expert found that "fewer than 5% of users select volume levels and listen frequently enough to risk hearing loss."[14] Some manufacturers of portable music devices have attempted to introduce safety circuitry that limited output volume or warned the user when dangerous volume was being used, but the concept has been rejected by most of the buying public, which favors the personal choice of high volume. Koss introduced the "Safelite" line of cassette players in 1983 with such a warning light. The line was discontinued two years later for lack of interest.

The government of France has imposed[15] a limit on all music players sold in the country:[15] they must not be capable of producing more than 100dBA (the threshold of hearing damage during extended listening is 80dB, and the threshold of pain, or theoretically of immediate hearing loss, is 130dB).

Other risks arise from the reduced awareness of external soundssome jurisdictions regulate the use of headphones while driving vehicles, usually limiting the use of earphones to a single ear. The complete isolation from outside noise can be a hazard in itself, as a user could miss the sound of a car horn and walk into traffic with fatal consequences. Losing situational awareness can also lead to theft, particularly in busy environments where bumping into another person would be ignored, e.g., metro stations.[citation needed]

Motorcycle and other power-sport riders benefit by wearing foam earplugs when legal to do so to avoid excessive road, engine, and wind noise, but their ability to hear music and intercom speech is actually enhanced when doing so. The ear can normally detect 1-billionth of an atmosphere of sound pressure level,[16] hence it is incredibly sensitive. At very high sound pressure levels, muscles in the ear tighten the tympanic membrane and this leads to a small change in the geometry of the ossicles and stirrup that results in lower transfer of force to the oval window of the inner ear (the acoustic reflex).[17] Since earplugs reduce the noise in the auditory canal, this protective mechanism is less likely to trigger, and full sensitivity of the ear is maintained. This technique allows excellent hearing of speech, music and most external sounds at sustainable levels without hearing damage.[citation needed]

Listening to music through headphones while exercising can be dangerous. Blood may be diverted from the ears to the limbs leaving the inner ear more vulnerable to damage from loud sound.[18] A Finnish study[19] recommended that exercisers should set their headphone volumes to half of their normal loudness and only use them for a half hour.[18]