Head Phones

Head phones come in many different shapes, sizes and styles. They are also known as headsets, stereophones or even cans (do you remember the old tin can with a piece of string trick?), and can even be designed to fit inside your ears, when they are called earphones or earbuds. These days we kind of take head phones for granted really, but when they first came on the scene they really made a big impact, after all, they were one of the first “hands-free” sets around. You could listen to your hi-fi LOUD without disturbing your parents watching their favorite TV program (a bit embarrassing when you started to sing along to the lyrics though), you could hold telephone conversations whilst doing other work, you could even listen to music while you went out jogging – and you still can. Head phones really have made a difference to our lives.

These days head phones have come a long way and are very much more sophisticated than the originals. Some of them are still only really loudspeakers which fit around your head, but some of them (for telephones) have a microphone too so that you can embark in two-way conversations

Head Phones are Everywhere

There are many different types of head phones available today, and the type of head phone you choose really depends on your needs. Portable headphones (like when you’re jogging) need to be small and lightweight, but this can mean that you have to compromise on quality of sound (not that I’d hear much for all of the heavy breathing – my heavy breathing that is). You can get cordless head phones (that’s clever) which connect by bluetooth or some other infrared signal, (saves you from getting the wire around your neck), and big, impressive professional looking head phones for disc jockeys and sound engineers. Singers and musicians use head phones when they are in the recording studio so that they can sing along (or play along) to a backing track. Head phones are just everywhere.

Types of Head Phones

Let’s take a look at the different types of head phones available:

• Circumaural – I know, it’s a big word, what it really means is those great big, full sized head phones which really encompass the ears. They actually seal out any external noise if they are fitted properly, they’re so big. Unfortunately they can be a bit heavy (not suitable for jogging or any other strenuous activity then).
• Supra-aural – sounds a bit like star trek doesn’t it? Are you impressed? Anyway, these are the ones which actually fit on top of your ears, not around them, a bit like the ones you might have got with your stereo system in the 1980′s. They are smaller and lighter than the circumaural head phones – thankfully.
• Earbuds and Earphones – these sit inside the ear, they’re really small (well, they’d have to be wouldn’t they, unless you were like Dumbo) but the downside is they don’t really drown out any outside noise, so you might have to turn the volume up a bit which can be detrimental to your ear drums in the long term.
• Headsets – these have a microphone attached, like in the old telephone exchanges but obviously a bit more modern. Anyway, they’re really good because you can hear and also speak to the person on the other end of the line – “is anyone on the line? You should get off quickly, there’s a freight train coming” – sorry, it’s an old one but the old one’s really are the best aren’t they?