At college I learned about ‘the medium is the message’; a saying by Marshall McLuhan in 1967. It says that the influence on social structures and conventions of a medium is the impact or message instead of the content of a medium. I did a small research on the commercial introduction of the headset in 1958 and what the message of the headset then would be.
Headsets were introduced as a fundamental instrument for sound analysis. This fundament is based in a technological prostheses that allows detailed research of the phenomenon interiority. A unique listening is created with the headset that was never heard before, except with the direct predecessor; the stereo stethoscope. The stethoscope brought a higher appreciation of listening to the inner sound in the medical world. By focusing, isolating and intensification of sound, a different perspective appeared on ‘listening’. The imagination of the doctor moved the interior of the patient, the sounds in his chest, and the doctors interior to the inside of the doctors head. You can describe this also as creating an imaginary mobile anechoic chamber. Relating this to the headset, it creates an imaginary space based on imaginary spaces established by creative manipulations of sound.
first musical headphone from 1910 by Nathaniel Baldwin 
The creating of this space between the ears needs four demands. The first one is the achievement of identical sound with identical volumes on both ears. Second, the sound must equip the right, parallel timing. The third demand is the lack of technical flaws or a consorting frequency response and last but not least your body needs to confirm the source of the sound. Combining those four demands, a sound mass in the head appears and every other sound is isolated. After the introduction of the stereo headphone everybody who could effort it could create this imaginary world with the help of sounds.!
first commercial stereo headphone from 1958 by John C. Koss (Koss SP-3)
I think that the isolation of sounds by the headset nowadays creates a mobile and constant changing surrounding that follows the user and wraps him or her up in a private bubble. The most material listened on the headset though is not specifically made for this medium. Most of the times the usage of this device is strictly practical and not specific for musical analysis. In combination with the usage of speakers after composition, the headphones are not suitable for mixing of music either, but because of the growing popularity they invented the headphone for mixing purposes. You have to take into account the stereo headphone image, like the ratio between the right and left speaker, and the frequency response.
You would think that the message of the headphone is the ability to individual listen to music, but I think that the message is the possibility to isolate yourself from the outer world through the echo-free-room between the ears. Often the headphone, or the more modern earphones, serve as a escape from the chaotic constantly moving world around us. It is great that we are able to find a calmly place through music listening, but I also think it can have a negative effect on the world in combination with the individualizing of the world. Maybe I can even suggest that the headphone is a co-causer of the individualizing. I think it is important to be aware of the effects of the usage of the media so you can act responsibly with it. Maybe next time you will think twice before you put in your earphones when you are with company or next time when you need an escape from the world you now know why your headphones make you feel so comfortable.
Yours Sincerely, @inMusicalTerms
P.S.: this is a repost of my first article, because I think it is still interesting and I'd like more people to read it :) https://steemit.com/music/@inmusicalterms/the-headset-is-the-message
With help of the following articles:
McLuhan, Marshall. “The Medium Is the Message.” In Understanding Media: The extensions of man, 18-37. New York: Gingko Press, 2013.
Stankievech, Charles. “From Stethoscopes to Headphones: An Acoustic Spatialization of Subjectivity.” Leonardo Music Journal 17 (2007): 55-59.
