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Modern headphones come from opera house, the kitchen table, and military bases. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/a-partial-history-of-headphones-4693742/ -
The earliest headphones date back to the late 19th century, and were used for radio communication. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/a-partial-history-of-headphones-4693742/ -
In the 1890s a company called Electrophone invented a sort of headphone that their costumers could connect to live performances at theaters and opera houses around London. http://smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/a-partial-history-of-headphones-4693742/ -
French engineer Ernest Mercadier patented a set of in-ear headphones in 1891. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/a-partial-history-of-headphones-4693742/ -
In 1910, Nathaniel Baldwin sent the Navy a part of prototype headphones offered for military testing. The Navy gave the design some tweaks and Baldwin sent the headphone prototype back to the Navy when he was finished tweaking it. The Navy ordered the headphones, but soon found out that Baldwin was making these headphones in his kitchen, and he could only make ten at a time. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/a-partial-history-of-headphones-4693742/ -
From 1921-1922 when radios were being used, headphones were necessary to communicate through radio. https://school.eb.com/levels/middle/article/radio/276636#286019-toc -
Using headphones that were used for communication between war planes, John Koss tweaked the design and created the Koss SP-3 design. This was the beginning of the modern day headphone design. http://smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/a-partial-history-of-headphones-4693742/ -
In 1979, Sony Walkman invented the walkman, a portable headphone device. http://smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/a-partial-history-of-headphones-4693742/ -
in 2001, the iPod was invented by Apple. https://lstnsound.com/blogs/main/a-brief-history-of-headphones#:~:text=Engineer%20Nathaniel%20Baldwin%20invented%20the,his%20kitchen%20table%20in%201910. -
In 2016, the first Apple in ear headphones were on sale. https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/09/07/the-surprisingly-long-history-of-the-apple-airpods -
In December of 2020, Apple releases their first version of the Airpod Max's. https://www.cnn.com/cnn-underscored/electronics/apple-airpods-max-usb-c