My Life in Headsets

What follows in this and subsequent posts is a series of recollections and impressions about the relation of personal media and space.

My first recollection of using headphones were a large black and white set that we used with our stereo system back in the 1970s. The pads were quite soft and the completely enveloped your ears. They were connected to a think, springy black spiral cord which ended in a fat plug that inserted into the amp. My sister or I would camp out in front of the stereo cabinets listening to LPs. When I think of the headset, I remember the softness of the pads, playing with the cord, and staring at the floor (parquet squares in Manila) while focusing on the music. Later, in Milwaukee, I would use them to listen to cassettes that my friend Jim would send to me (these were verbal letters, not mix tapes of music). This headset created a private space of sorts, your own space carved out of the living room, but I don’t recall feeling that I really was separate, or cut off from those around me. I was just listening to stuff with the headphones on so as not to bother everyone else.

In the early 1980s, the Sony Walkman and its knockoffs appeared. Friends on cross country and track would have them while they ran, occasionally someone would have a Y-connector and two guys would run yoked to one device. I don’t recall ever owning a Walkman-type device until I went to college. I made do with different boom boxes, for which I may have had headphones. When I finally did buy one, it was the record feature I most wanted—the ability to write verbal letters back to Jim.

I am not comfortable cutting myself off from the ambient environment when I’m in public, especially when I’m in motion. I recall in high school being on runs with friends on the cross country team and having them snatch me by my sweatshirt hood to keep me from running in front of cars (thanks Don!). If I wasn’t seeing the cars without a personal stereo, why further endanger myself by cutting off all aural clues to danger? I guess it’s good that I don’t bore easily—it is in boring situations that people most often turn to distractions like personal music—but tend to find myself interested in the world and people around me, and the ongoing dialogue in my head which keeps me engaged. Even on long runs I prefer not to use a personal stereo. I will have songs going in my head, but can edit them for tempo, matching my memory of the song to the rhythm of my footfalls.

In any case, I feel somewhat lost, adrift, if I’m cut off from the ambient noise. Now, perhaps my memory is faulty—and friends and relatives, please feel free to correct me, I’d be interested to know—but I don’t think I was ever one to wear a personal stereo in public. I’m fairly certain (but, again, admit that memory is quite selective), partly because I remember an experiment I did when I was in grad school. And I couched it as an experiment at the time. This wasn’t anything radical or innovative, it was simply wearing my Walkman-type device (I had one by this time) from Lincoln Hall in Urbana, onto the bus, and then walking the rest of the way home. I didn’t make it. That is, I made it home, but not with the headset on. Perhaps I’m just not visually attuned to the environment, but I had a hard time negotiating crowds, and just felt uncomfortable sitting on the bus. There was another time I tried listening to it while mowing the backyard in Urbana, but ended up with a headache. Partly this had to do with the level of volume I had to have it at to be heard over the electric mower. And partly this had to do with Pearl Jam’s Vs album, which always gives me a headache anyway.

Nowadays, my only use for a personal stereo device is at the gym (and it’s been a couple of years) when I need to override the musical tastes of the gym personnel or corporate soundtrack.

About three years ago I bought a pair of noise canceling headphones, the large soft earpieces a nice throwback to a time before little foam pads on awkward wires. I bought them primarily to use on a series of long international plane flights, where they worked to reduce the ambient rumble of the aircraft, spared my head some stress, and actually made it possible to hear more of the dialog on inflight films. They’re now my preferred headset when watching my portable DVD player. My next technological splurge on my wish list would be a pair of Bose noise reduction headphones.

I now have a pair of earbuds which came with my iPod…but I’m getting ahead of myself.

More soon.