The Obscuring of Production Relations by the Upgrading of Headphone Technology from a Political Economy of Communication Perspective
Abstract
Against the background of the continuous development of digital media and the consumer electronics industry, headphones have gradually become everyday media devices that regulate individual perception, emotional states, and social relations. Taking the upgrading of headphone technology as the point of entry, and based on the perspective of the political economy of communication, this paper analyzes the technological logic, consumption logic, and industrial logic behind closed-back, semi-open-back, and open-back headphones. The study finds that functions such as noise reduction, transparency, and openness, while relieving sensory pressure and improving convenience of use, also gradually transform structural issues that originally belong to the levels of urban governance, labor rhythms, and public space into "private troubles" in which individuals rely on consumer technologies for self-regulation, and to a certain extent obscure the deep-seated contradictions in production relations.
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