Since the creation of true headphones in 1910 by Nathaniel Baldwin, headphones and the tech included them has evolved from clunky tin cans with some wiring meant for war, into high-tech listening devices that have become fashion accessories. Today, headphones provide more incentive than ever before to keep them on rather than to take them off, with their impressive technological components increasing the quality of sound and their aesthetic appearance headphones are causing a culture shift among newer generations such as generations Y and Z. To begin, it is important to observe what the culture shift mentioned above even is. Headphones, without an explanation of what they are needed, allow the privatization of an individual’s personal audio …show more content…
A transducer is a device that is able to turn one form of energy into another. For the purposes of a pair of headphones, it turns electrical signals of 0’s and 1’s into acoustic signals that the user can understand. There are three main types of transducers within various headphones today; these transducers are dynamic, orthodynamic, and electrostatic transducers. Dynamic transducers are essentially two small speakers, where once the electric signal reaches the headphones, a magnet inside of the headphones causes a coil to resonate inside a cone shaped object made of different materials (it could be paper, plastic or a fibrous material). This vibration causes the air molecules to be disrupted and in turn, creates sound waves that the user understands. Orthodynamic transducers are similar in that they use magnets, but it has multiple flat diaphragms made of plastic as opposed to a cone-like diaphragm for dynamic transducers. This theoretically is meant to provide a more even sound over the surface of the diaphragm, allowing it to give a higher quality sound. Then finally, the electrostatic transducer utilizes an electrically charged diaphragm in between two electrodes. The electrical signal is sent to the electrodes which creates an electrical field that draws the charged diaphragm closer to one electrode compared to the other depending on the polarity (or sign) of the electric field. Air is pushed through the holes of the electrodes, and the moving diaphragm causes a sound wave. Electrostatic headphones generally produce the highest quality of sound of the three types of headphones