Infographics

How Headphones Have Changed the Workplace Forever

People today are listening to music on their headphones and earbuds nearly everywhere; on trains, buses, planes, and many more. But only about 100 years ago, headphones didn’t exist yet. In fact in 1895, the Electrophone allowed subscribers to listen in on live performances over phone lines and cost, in today’s dollars, around $800 a year – that’s more than 6 times what Spotify costs today. The first real headphones, however, were made in 1910, by Nathaniel Bladwin, who sold the first 100 pairs to the U.S. Navy, in 1937, the Beyerdynamic DT-48 was the first dynamic headphones available for home use, and remained in production until 2012, in 1958 the Koss SP-3 were the very first stereo headphones, made for music rather than radio, and in the 60s and 70s, Koss dominated the headphone market thanks to celebrity endorsements like the Beatlesphones and ads featuring King Kong, in 1968, the Sennheiser HD 414 made the “Open Aire” design, making them super lightweight, portable, and allowing outside sound to pass through, in 1979, Sony unveiled the Walkman, the first ever portable cassette player, with 2 headphone jacks for shared listening, and it led to a boom in lightweight, inexpensive headphones. 

 

The extra new portability made music, and headphones, everywhere – creating autonomy and privacy, even in large public areas. In 1999, Bluetooth made wires for headphones no longer necessary, but it would take another 10 years for Bluetooth headphones to become popular, in 2000, the Bose QuietComfort became the first noise cancelling, commercially available headphones, in 2001, the iPod reinvented portable and digital music, and finally in 2017, Airpods, despite initial ridicule, became a cultural phenomenon and quickly became the trademark of Apple earbuds compared to their previous corded earbuds.

Related Post

 

Find out the challenges of future headphones and how they affect workers here.

Brian Wallace

Brian Wallace is the Founder and President of NowSourcing, an industry leading infographic design agency based in Louisville, KY and Cincinnati, OH which works with companies that range from startups to Fortune 500s. Brian also runs #LinkedInLocal events nationwide, hosts the Next Action Podcast, and has been named a Google Small Business Advisor for 2016-present.

Share
Published by
Brian Wallace

Recent Posts

Top 5 Modular Blockchain Tokens Less Than $1 Price Mark To Monitor In August 2025

As the blockchain ecosystem continues to evolve, modular blockchains are emerging as a promising frontier,…

2 minutes ago

MetaMask Proposes Stablecoin Launch, Taps Stripe to Bridge TradFi and DeFi

MetaMask wants its own stablecoin. It’s calling it MetaMask USD (mmUSD). And if the recent…

1 day ago

Spartan, Stake & Betway: Top 2025 Crypto Gambling Prizes

Spartan’s $250K Lambo Challenge Tops 2025’s Crypto Gambling Prize War with Stake & Betway Crypto…

1 day ago

SharpLink’s Ethereum Accumulation Hits High Top With Staking Strategy

SharpLink is leaning hard into Ethereum. They buy. They stake. They hold. Ethereum currently trades…

2 days ago

Cardano Price Prediction: Is a Return to $2 Imminent or Just a FOMO Fantasy?

After months of consolidation, Cardano (ADA) is regaining investor attention thanks to renewed forecasts projecting…

3 days ago

Bitcoin and Ethereum Whales Quietly Accumulating—What Does This Mean for the Market?

Whales are back—and this time, they’re not making noise. Despite the relative calm in prices,…

3 days ago