HISTORY OF DESIGN INDIVIDUAL PROJECT - DAILY OBJECT

COURSE : HISTORY OF DESIGN




DAILY OBJECT - EARPHONES




The object that I use literally everyday is the wired earphone. It is something I hold very dearly. So I've decided to check back on the history or so to say the evolution in the designs of headphones/earphones.






The start of the concept of a portable and mobile form of listening to music or any audio dates back to the early 1900s. Decades of innovation has changed the first "Electrophone" to the headphones/earphones we all use everyday.

FIRST ELECTROPHONE POSTER IN 1890s



They were stethoscope shaped and was connected to a switchboard. At the time headphones were all single sided.






NATHAN BALDWIN'S FIRST HEADPHONE DESIGN

The design of the first true headphone as we know now was designed first by an engineer named Nathan Baldwin around the 1890s.










KOSS SP-3, FIRST STEREO HEADPHONES AND THE BEATLEPHONES

In 1958, Jazz musician and "audio lover" John Koss invented the Koss SP-3, the first ever stereo over head headphones. These revolutionized headphones for personal listening forever.

They were just speakers but wrapped in some soft cloth with a headband connecting them.








During the 1960s and 70s, the age of youth centric music genres like Rock and Roll, the popularity and use of Koss SP-3 was very high.

With the rise of the Beatles, Koss endorsed the Beatlephones, a signature Koss headphone with a Beatles sticker on it. As a person who listens to The Beatles, I'm aware of the huge impact and popularity they had at the time. So I can imagine how big this was for the time. This was, you could say, the earliest stages of celebrity endorsement.











SONY'S FIRST WALKMAN WITH MDR 3L2

As the advancements in transport and logistics grew, so did the need for portability. This need at that era gave birth to what would be one of the most iconic products in the headphone industry - THE WALKMAN.



Introduced In 1979, Sony's Walkman was a portable stereo player. The unique bit - it came bundled with their first portable headphone, the MDR 3L2. It was a simple on-ear design with thin sliding metal headbands.

This bundle caught on like wildfire and was recognized as the ultimate style statement for being cool. The MDR 3L2 might not measure up to today’s standards but these enjoy a nostalgic appeal that is unparalleled.

Later companies like Phillips, Onkyo came into the headphone game and started producing reasonably priced headphones that offered really good performance and was affordable by the masses. That too caught on like fire.




BOSE QC1, FIRST NOISE CANCELLING HEADPHONES

Travel was booming and with travelling came ambient sounds and noises. This was where Bose came in with their very innovative Noise Cancelling headphones. In such a sonically chaotic environment, these headphones was the savior.

When Dr. Amar Bose invented Noise Cancelling headphones in 1989, they were worn mostly by in-cabin pilots. Pilots would experience high exposure to engine noise which would lead to health issues, like deafness. These noise-cancelling headphones helped avoid the occupational hazard during flights.








These headphones also helped for when travelling in flights or trains where it was usually very noisy. It was a commercial success.




APPLE IPOD WITH EARBUD DESIGN HEADPHONES

In 2001, cool but minimalistic designs were popular. This is where Apple, headed by the great Steve Jobs came into the game with the very famous and in my opinion, iconic device that is the iPod with the white earbud design headphones/earphones.



These earphones were the zenith of cool and fashion at the time. Donning a white earphone became a style statement.

This inspired other companies to focus on the looks of the product as a marketing strategy. One such company was Skullcandy. They focused on the youth and younger generation, making the looks of their products very appealing to that certain generation with catchy, youthful designs.

AIRPODS (WIRELESS)

Introduced by Apple following the release of the iPhone 7 and by removing the jack, they did take step into the wireless world of listening.

So this is currently where we stand now. A wireless generation has started to make its move forward to a wireless future where the experience of not only listening but many products is going to be wireless.

CITATIONS:

https://www.headphonezone.in/blogs/audiophile-101/evolution-of-headphones

Article by Praveen Kamath on May 28 2022.