Corded Headset

Bose headphones are a family of headphone products sold by the Bose Corporation. The company pioneered the development of headphones that use active noise cancellation technology. more...

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Background

Research

The idea of personal noise protection by actively controlled headphones was originally documented in a 1960 Russian patent application According to Bose, the company started noise-cancellation involvement after Dr. Bose went on a 1978 flight to Europe, utilized the headphones provided during the flight only to conclude that he couldn't really enjoy the sound with the roar of engines in the background.". One source notes that "nearly simultaneously, the US company Bose and Sennheiser in Germany presented active headsets for aircraft pilots," citing a 1986 ASME paper about the Bose product and a 1988 Funkschau paper about the Sennheiser. Bose's first noise-cancelling headsets were released in 1989.

Bose Acoustic Active Noise-Cancellation

It took Bose about 10 years (the QuietComfort Headphones were released in 1989) to engineer, fine-tune, and finalize its patented Acoustic Noise Cancellation technology, a form of active noise-cancellation technology. Since the release of Bose's Acoustic Noise Cancellation system, the technology underwent massive changes which include changing the circuitry pattern, magnetically-shielding the earcups, and refining the noise-cancellation programming to reduce the amount of hissing.

In the current revision, acoustic noise-cancellation headsets sold by Bose now include Electronic Active Equalization to balance out the sound.

Like all such technology, it mixes an inverted sample of the ambient sound outside the headset with the sound that reaches the inside of the headset, partially cancelling out the noise. Obviously active (battery-powered) noise cancellation is never perfect, and is better at low frequencies than at high frequencies.

As an active noise-cancellation mechanism, it requires a source of power—a small battery inside the headset—to perform the cancellation. Bose headphones also perform active equalization of the signal.

Bose TriPort Earcup Structure

In order to reduce the bulkiness found in a lot of headphones and to keep the headphones portable, compact, and lightweight, Bose also engineered an earcup structure which utilizes three small ports in each earcup so that the drivers will operate more efficiently to produce clearer treble and deeper bass. By letting the air enter into the three ports, the drivers in each earcup can "have some breathing room" to operate in a more efficient manner. This is Bose's patented TriPort Earcup Structure, first introduced with the Bose Aviation Headset X "Magellan" released in 1998. Since the proprietary structuring helped reduce the amount of size and weight of the headphones, all of Bose's headphones released today feature the company's proprietary earcup structure. This lowered the mass of Bose's flagship QuietComfort family of headphones, and also made Bose's professional-grade headphones (Aviation family, and its military family of headphones) easier to wear.

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