I often travel on public transit and it is no longer unusual to observe half the people on a busy bus “plugged in” to there iPhones, iPods and MP3 players. I’m frequently one of them and I love being able to carry a magical world of my favourite beautiful music or an audiobook with me as I travel. Traveling can become a time of relaxation, enjoyment and learning rather than a time wasted. I used to try reading but then noticed I would miss my stop occasionally. Listening to something seems a perfect solution to making good use of travel time.
I also like that I can enjoy listening to what I prefer without impinging on others. It’s like you can take your own private sound-space with you no matter where you are.
With the increasing noise pollution in urban environments, turning on your iPod can be a great way to partially mask or filter out unpleasant stressful sounds. It’s also been proven that working in an open plan office reduces productivity by 66% * and that wearing headphones and listening to calming music or nature sounds will increase your productivity to optimal levels again.
So those are some of the good things about headphones or earbuds.
What about the bad things? I’ll discuss those in part 2 of “I can’t hear you! Headphones & Earbuds”
* As referenced in “Sound Business” by Julian Treasure.
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