Project Proposal
For our project, we are proposing to create an informative documentary on headphones. We will be looking at the invention’s antecedents, historical progression, and interaction with American society and culture. Our blog posts regarding the topic will range from “Cultural Impact”, to “Antecedents”. We will be exploring the different aspects of the way that headphones have impacted different varieties of people and professions. We will explore the headphones creation and different variations of the technology. We will be able to explore the different places throughout America that headphones are used and their different uses. Starting with the antecedents we will be able to explain why there was a need for this technology ranging to now when this technology is something people use daily. The headphone covers many avenues of American history and culture and is why we believe that we can cover this piece of technology.
Our project documentary will be formatted as a slideshow featuring historical photos of headphones, and voice-over commentary from the members of our group explaining the significance of the particular antecedent/headphones, and their impact on The States – respective to the topics mentioned in the paragraph above. The primary software we will be using to do this iMovie. We are also planning to use the green-screen technology in the Digital Knowledge Center to show ourselves explaining the technology, in order to better elaborate the historical concepts we are analyzing. We believe iMovie will be the best avenue to complete this documentary with because of our previous experience using this system. We will be able to include different videos and commentary through iMovie and be able to comfortably insert the different pieces we need. Our documentary will cover all the various aspects from the beginning of headphone history all the way to the present.
We chose to study this particular piece of technology because of the prevalence it has on American culture, especially since its explosive popularity over the past half-century. All members of our group use headphones on a daily basis, which sparked an interest in learning more about the past, present, and even future of what headphones will bring to both consumers and the labor force in the United States.
Annotated Bibliography
Beardsley, Erin, Steege, Mark W., Bickford, Rebekah, and Cameron, Elizabeth. Functional Analysis of Ear Plugging and Treatment Analysis of Noise Dampening Headphones, 2014, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses.
This is a scholarly source because it’s a published dissertation. It is written about a test that hypothesized headphones being equivalent with ear plugging when looking at task performance. They did studies and the results supported the use of headphones for increasing task performance. We can use this information to show the various used for headphones.
Bellis, Mary. “The Evolution of the Microphone.” ThoughtCo, March 2015. https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-microphones-1992144.
This website talks about the microphone and when it was first used for recording. The microphone is an antecedent of headphones.
Harmon, Katherine. “Talk through a String Telephone.” Scientific American. Accessed October 28, 2019. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/talk-through-a-string-telephone-bring-science-home/.
This is a website talking about the tin can telephone and the science about how it works. It also has instructions on how to make one.
“Headphones: A History of the Original Wearable Tech,” July 12, 2019. https://interestingengineering.com/headphones-a-history-of-the-original-wearable-tech.
John Loeffler, writer and computer programmer, wrote an article about the history of headphones and how the creators came about their ingenious creations that changed the future. We plan on using this site to help give us the historical insight we need to make a proper timeline of headphone production
“Headphones.” 2013. Consumer Reports 78 (12): 43. http://search.ebscohost.com.umw.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=91791798&site=ehost-live.
This source is a consumer report of different statistics of headphones. This can give us statistics of certain headphones and why they were chosen over others. This also covers where certain headphones work best compared to others.
“I`m Flying` Headsets Cutting the Cord Fancy Headphones Listen Up!” manualzz.com. Accessed September 25, 2019. https://manualzz.com/doc/33015902/-i-m-flying–headsets-cutting-the-cord-fancy-headphones-l…
This is an article from the Economic Times magazine so it makes a good primary source. The article is showing the different headphones and how technology has changed over time as well as showing antecedents for headphones. It has a timeline along with pictures of each piece of technology.
“Image: 1970s Vintage Headphone Ad: Super Hot! | Casual Men of Action …” Accessed September 25, 2019. https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://i.pinimg.com/originals/20/c2/d7/20c2d7fe310b44943c3c7028e172dd7a.jpg&imgrefurl=https://www.pinterest.com/pin/245657354643917784/&docid=5xTKHf41stFg7M&tbnid=Le__DBHWVKGWlM:&vet=1&w=854&h=1056&hl=en-us&source=sh/x/im.
This is an advertisement for the Stereophone from Koss corporation in 1971. It was printed and published in a newspaper. We will be able to add it to the timeline to support the period and its produced products.
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. “History of the Cylinder Phonograph.” Web page. Accessed October 28, 2019. https://www.loc.gov/collections/edison-company-motion-pictures-and-sound-recordings/articles-and-essays/history-of-edison-sound-recordings/history-of-the-cylinder-phonograph/.
This website gives information about the phonograph. The phonograph is an antecedent of headphones.
“November 24, 1980 Issue Viewer.” Vault, https://www.si.com/vault/issue/70915/15. Accessed 18 Sept. 2019. ww.clker.com/clipart-headphones-7.html
This is a Koss Corporation ad from 1980 in a Sports Illustrated Magazine with Mona Lisa wearing headphones and captioned, “Ever wonder why she’s smiling?”. It was published and was in a website that archived this whole newspaper online. We will also be able to add it to the timeline to support the period and its produced products.
Nyre, Lars. “Urban Headphone Listening and the Situational Fit of Music, Radio and Podcasting.” Journal of Radio & Audio Media 22, no. 2 (March 2015).
This is a study using headphones to show the differences of listening to music playlists, live radio, or podcasts during public transit. This can be used in our project to show the difference uses of headphones as well as the effects headphones have in people’s daily lives.
Savov, Vlad. “Wireless Headphones Are Improving Faster than Anything Else in Tech.” The Verge, August 31, 2018. https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/31/17803728/wireless-headphones-usb-c-google-assistant-siri-ifa-2018.
Vlad Savov is an author for The Verge. He is a headphone and mobile reviewer and in this article he talks about different models of headphones as well as the advancing technology. This will be helpful to talk about more current technology because it was written in 2018 and talks about technology that year.
Sean Nye. “Headphone–Headset–Jetset: DJ Culture, Mobility and Science Fictions of Listening.” Dancecult: Journal of Electronic Dance Music Culture 3, no. 1 (2011): 64-96. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/71d1/12990ecad4727eaadce194a641d4a828b96e.pdf
This article talks about how headphones in history are pivotal. These pieces of technology helped airplane pilots in World War II and also are used in various different places now. This will help us relate headphones to the greater world.
SSENSE. “A History of Headphone Design.” ssense, February 20, 2017. https://www.ssense.com/en-us/editorial/culture/a-history-of-headphone-design.
This source talks about Sony headphones and the effect of headphones on culture. This will be able to give insight into different aspects of how the development of headphones shaped America.
Stamp, Jimmy. “A Partial History of Headphones.” Smithsonian. Accessed September 25, 2019. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/a-partial-history-of-headphones-4693742/.
In this article, the author delves into some of the companies & intellectuals who worked to bring headphones from the military and switchboard industry into the hands of everyday consumers. He highlights the people, antecedents, and patents which contributed to what we know today as personal headphones.
Techopedia.com. “What Are Headphones? – Definition from Techopedia.” Accessed October 28, 2019. https://www.techopedia.com/definition/7551/headphones.
This website gives a very simple purpose of headphones and explains what they are used for. It also gives a brief history and how the names for headphones have changed overtime.
“The History of Headphones.” Cool Material, July 5, 2016. https://coolmaterial.com/roundup/history-of-headphones/.
This is a collection of visual representations of ads and different headphones along with descriptions of the timeline of headphones. Again this will help us search further into what specific versions of headphones we want to focus on.
“The History of Headphones | Visual.Ly.” Accessed September 25, 2019. /community/infographic/technology/history-headphones.
This source is a timeline of various advances in headphone technology. This will give us different ideas of antecedents and different variations in headphones throughout the years. It also gives us visual representations of each improved piece of technology.
Wells, Georgia. “A History of Headphones: How the Technology Has Evolved.” The Wall Street Journal, 8 Sep. 2016. Web. 25 Sep. 2019. https://search.proquest.com/docview/1817486566?rfr_id=info%3Axri%2Fsid%3Aprimo.
This scholarly article is presented as a timeline that allows the reader to understand the technological progression of headphones from the late nineteenth century until present time. The article highlights the initial use of early headphones and the innovative person(s) in history that contributed towards their evolution.
Wells, Georgia. “The History of Headphones.” Wall Street Journal, September 7, 2016, sec. Tech. https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-history-of-headphones-1473274924.
Georgia Wells covers the literal history of the headphone in this article. This helps give us a better understanding of each version of headphones that were created over the years. This article creates a timeline starting from the patent all the way to the current headphones used by many.
“WWII Uniforms – Fighter Pilot Gear.” Accessed October 28, 2019. http://www.303rdbg.com/uniforms-gear8.html.
This website has pictures of early headphones build into WWII pilot’s headgear. This site can be used to talk about the early used for headphones.
“YouTube.” Accessed September 25, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jx8l0-calAg&feature=youtu.be.
This video is an ad from Koss about different styles of headphones they sell. They incorporate people from different backgrounds as well as different genders. This can be used to show how headphones help us come together through our differences.
“YouTube.” Accessed September 25, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYhWDjg02aA&feature=youtu.be.
This is another ad from Koss Stereophones about where the beginning of their company is from. We could use this to help us emphasize the creation of the headphone and a starting point to this certain type of technology.
Featured Image Source: Spratt, Annie. “Library in Wells Cathedral.” Unsplash – Beautiful Free Images & Pictures. Web. 25 Sep 2019. https://unsplash.com/photos/GWCvnsMtiBg
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