Headphone Bubbles : Negotiating Space through Audio

Sammanfattning

Headphones are a common feature of public space. They allow users to determine what noise they hear and are visible to others. This paper aims to explore how headphones affect spatial perception through personal choice and social context. Using participatory observations and interviews, headphones were analyzed as part of the personal spatial experience instead of a separate entity through a phenomenological perspective. The main findings include how particular audio is associated with space, rendering it one of leisure or one of productivity by changing the occupied space’s character. The personal sonic choice transforms the space without moving locations. Headphones constitute an extension of personal space as the noise they create is only meant for their user. Wearing them creates a safe space for the listener where they are left alone by others but accompanied by their own audio. As they are deemed an entertainment device, headphones become an acceptable way of disassociating from others. A norm of wearing them is found in various spaces, conversely producing social vulnerability when they are not used here. Headphones are employed as a means to mitigate effects of a social context that users do not wish to participate in at certain times.