Headphones

Headphones (or head-phones in the early days of telephony and radio) are a pair of small listening devices that are designed to be worn on or around the head over a user's ears. They are electroacoustic transducers, which convert an electrical signal to a corresponding sound in the user's ear. Headphones are designed to allow a single user to listen to an audio source privately, in contrast to a loudspeaker, which emits sound into the open air, allowing anyone nearby to listen. Headphones are also known as earspeakers, earphones or, colloquially, cans. Circumaural and supra-aural headphones use a band over the top of the head to hold the speakers in place. The other type, known as earbuds or earphones consist of individual units that plug into the user's ear canal. In the context of telecommunication, a headset is a combination of headphone and microphone. Headphones either connect directly to a signal source such as an audio amplifier, radio, CD player, portable media player, mobile phone, video game consoles, electronic musical instrument, or use wireless technology such as bluetooth or FM radio. Early headphones were first used by radio pioneers (crystal sets) and also by radio telephone and telegraph operators allowing a better audio reception without distubing others around. Initially the audio quality was mediocre and a step forward was the invention of high fidelity headphones.

Headphones are made in a range of different audio reproduction quality capabilities. Headsets designed for telephone use typically cannot reproduce sound with the high fidelity of expensive units designed for music listening by audiophiles. Headphones that use cables typically have either a 1/4 inch (6.35mm) or 1/8 inch (3.5mm) phone jack for plugging the headphones into the audio source. As of 2015, most headphones are amplified by a headphone amplifier, either an integrated amplifier (e.g., in an iPod) or a standalone unit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headphones