Do you know what going to mass has to do with the development of headphones?

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I have taken these photos of reflections of the Gothic cloister of the Pedralbes monastery from the 14th century with modern headphones, so current and normal for our time, although in the past, 110 years ago, they had been invented for other uses.

In this case, I have captured with reflections to The Photos of the Readers of La Vanguardia headphones, everyday objects that I portray in a place of spirituality and beauty such as the cloister of the monastery. Because, do you know what going to mass has to do with the development of headphones? Well now we will see.

Mormon Nathaniel Baldwin (1878 – 1961) invented one of the first pairs of audio headphones. And he did it in his kitchen in 1910. Not surprising, because as a child he had already built his own bicycle and even a steam engine.

He was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One day, at mass, he realized that the acoustics were not very good, so he started thinking about it until he created his own model of headphones. He wanted to market them, but he had no luck until the US Navy placed an order with him. He ended his days being rich.


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Headphones with reflections of the cloister of the Pedralbes monastery.

Isaura Marcos

Mind you, earphones, two telephone receivers on a head bow, were already in use by early wireless radio operators in 1906-1907, before Baldwin improved upon the telephone receiver and patented his in 1910.

Years before, the French engineer Ernest Mercadier, in 1891, created a patent for headphones that were used by telephone operators and even had a lock to eliminate external sounds. He was director of studies at the Polytechnic School of Paris and is universally known for the invention of the telegraph device that allowed eight dispatches to be sent at the same time (multiplex).

If we talk about modern headphones, the German company Beyerdynamic is credited with the invention. It was in the late 1930s and they were the first to sell headphones to the general public: DT48 model in 1937.

His models have survived to this day (at the 1988 Seoul Olympics all the broadcast teams had Beyerdynamic headphones), although it was Nathaniel Baldwin who gave the headphones their spiritual origin.


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The cloister of the Pedralbes monastery reflected in headphones.

The cloister of the Pedralbes monastery in headphones.

Isaura Marcos

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Do you know what going to mass has to do with the development of headphones?