Bose headphones

Bose Corporation produces headphones for consumer, aviation and military use. The models range includes in-ear headphones, mobile headsets, supra-aural headphones, circumaural headphones and military/aviation headsets. The company was the first to release active noise cancelling headphones as a consumer product.

Bose's consumer range of active noise-cancelling headphones are called QuietComfort. For industrial noise-cancelling applications, Bose produces the A20 Aviation Headset, Space Shuttle Headset and Combat Vehicle Crewman Headset.

According to Bose, the company started noise-cancellation involvement after Dr. Amar Bose went on a 1978 flight to Europe, "was trying out new set of airline-supplied headphones and found that he couldn't really enjoy the sound with the roar of engines in the background".

In 1986, Bose applied their noise-cancellation technology to develop headphones to protect the hearing of pilots participating in the first unrefueled non-stop around-the-world flight in the Rutan Voyager.

One source notes that "nearly simultaneously, the US company Bose and Sennheiser in Germany presented active headsets for aircraft pilots" as citing a 1986 paper of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, about the Bose product, and a 1988 Funkschau (see ) paper about the Sennheiser.

Bose released the QuietComfort 3 Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones ("QC3") on June 15, 2006, the company's first pair of on-ear headphones. Bose states that, although headphones which envelope the ear provide greater passive noise isolation, the QC3s have the same amount of total noise reduction as the QC2s due to improved active noise cancellation. Memory foam is used to improve the passive noise isolation.

The QC3's earcups are powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery; Bose claims a battery life of 25 hours.

The headphones were favorably reviewed in Sound & Vision and were the first headphones to receive that magazine's Editor's Choice award, in 2006. That year, the QC3s also received a Potentials Magazine Gold Star Award "Bronze" for Premium Incentives. In 2007 they received a Red Dot Award for product design.

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