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It seems like everyone you see these days has a pair of headphones plugged into his mp3 player or cell phone. Headphones are an essential modern accessory, but they've changed significantly from the first model, created in the 1930s by Beyerdynamic. Headphones are essentially small speakers designed to fit in or over the ear, so to... more »
From the time they were invented in 1910 by Nathaniel Baldwin, headphones have been a staple of communication across the globe. Of course, as with any technology, they have gone through design changes, new applications have been devised for the them, and they have been manufactured in many different ways.
The very first headphones... more »
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In-ear headphones can sometimes get clogged with earwax. When this happens, it's likely to effect your sound quality. You will get a longer life from your earphones if you clean them regularly. Here's an easy way to clean headphones without damaging them in the process. more »
Noise reduction headphones will not completely blank out environmental noise but do reduce background sounds sufficiently to lower stress and increase the quality of audio entertainment. The term "noise cancellation" refers to an electronic device that negates unwanted sound. Some noise reduction headphones are passive designs,... more »
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Headphones are a pair of small loudspeakers, or less commonly a single speaker, with a way of holding them close to a users ears and a means of connecting them to a signal source such as an audio amplifier, radio or CD player. They are also known as earphones, earbuds, stereophones, headsets or, informally cans. In the context of telecommunication, the term headset is used to describe a combination of headphone and microphone used for two-way communication, for example with a telephone.
History
The telephone earpiece such as the one pictured at the right was common around the turn of the 20th century. From the earpiece developed the headphones. Sensitive headphones were the only way to listen to audio signals before amplifiers were developed.
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. 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 tubes 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
Headphones can be used both read more at » http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headphones
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