Headphones originated from the earpiece, and were the only way to listen to electrical audio signals before amplifiers were developed. The first truly successful set was developed in 1910 by Nathaniel Baldwin, who made them by hand in his kitchen and sold them to the United States Navy.
Some very sensitive headphones, such as those manufactured by Brandes around 1919, were commonly used for early radio work. These early headphones used moving iron drivers, either single ended or balanced armature. The requirement for high sensitivity meant no damping was used, thus the sound quality was crude. They also had very poor comfort compared to modern types, usually having no padding and too often having excessive clamping force to the head. Their impedancevaried; headphones used in telegraph and telephone work had an impedance of 75 ohms. Those used with early wireless radio had to be more sensitive and were made with more turns of finer wire; impedance of 1000 to 2000 ohms was common, which suited both crystal sets and triode receivers.
In early powered radios, the headphone was part of the vacuum tube’s plate circuit and had dangerous voltages on it. It was normally connected directly to the positive high voltage battery terminal, and the other battery terminal was securely grounded. The use of bare electrical connections meant that users could be shocked if they touched the bare headphone connections while adjusting an uncomfortable headset.
In 1943, John C. Koss, an audiophile and jazz musician from Milwaukee, produced the first stereo headphones. Before that, the headphones were used only in industry by telephone operators and the music lovers.
