DJ Gear Lab

Evidence map

Headphone: what the evidence base looks like

10 publications, 0 of them trials and 0 syntheses. This page describes the shape of that literature rather than summarising its conclusions.

Updated 4 min read 10 citations

What the evidence on headphone is made of Of 10 publications on this topic, the breakdown by study type: 10 other. 10other (10)
10 publications, by study type. Volume is not strength — the same count can be a settled question or a pile of commentary, and which one it is depends almost entirely on this breakdown. Harvested from PubMed and Crossref; publication type as recorded by the source.

What this literature is made of

A reasonable volume of literature, but weighted towards reviews and observational work rather than trials. That is enough to describe a phenomenon and rarely enough to establish that an intervention works.

The distinction that matters most is between synthesis and primary research. A meta-analysis pools trials and is the closest thing to a settled answer a field produces. A narrative review is one group's reading of the same material and can be selective without being dishonest. Counting them together, which most citation counts do, obscures exactly the thing you want to know.

When the headphone literature was published Publication years for the 10 papers on this topic, grouped into bands from before 2015 through to 2023 onwards. 2015-20196 papers2020-20223 papers2023 onwards1 papers
Still active. The most recent paper here is from 2025, so this is a field where an answer written today may not hold for long. Publication years as recorded by PubMed and Crossref.

How this page is built

Everything above is computed from the citations this site harvested from PubMed and Crossref, not written by hand. When the weekly harvest finds a new paper on this topic, these counts change and the characterisation changes with them. That is the point: a hand-written claim about how strong an evidence base is starts decaying the day it is written.

Publication type is taken as the source records it. That is imperfect — journals label inconsistently, and a paper indexed as a "review" may be a systematic one — so treat the bands as approximate. They are accurate enough to distinguish a trial literature from a commentary literature, which is the distinction that matters.

The strongest work on this topic

Ordered by study design first, then recency. The full set is listed in the references below.

  1. Does Perceived Green Space Quality Matter? Linking Norwegian Adult Perspectives on Perceived Quality to Motivation and Frequency of Visits — Fongar C, Aamodt G, Randrup T et al., 2019, journal article
  2. The importance of frequency–place mismatch in the quality of sound perceived in single-sided deafness among cochlear implant recipients — Gersdorff G, Ivanovic N, Zoka Assadi M et al., 2025, journal article
  3. Effect of Frequency Response Manipulations on Musical Sound Quality for Cochlear Implant Users — Mo J, Jiam N, Deroche M et al., 2022, journal article
  4. Waveform Quality Evaluation Method of Variable-Frequency Current Based on Curve Fitting — Zhao S, Liu Y, 2022, journal article
  5. Perceived Sound Quality Dimensions Influencing Frequency-Gain Shaping Preferences for Hearing Aid-Amplified Speech and Music — Vaisberg J, Beaulac S, Glista D et al., 2021, journal article
  6. The perception and measurement of headphone sound quality — Olive S, Welti T, Khonsariopour O, 2019, journal article
  7. Perceived Target Range Shapes Human Sound-Localization Behavior — Ege R, Van Opstal A, Van Wanrooij M, 2019, journal article
  8. the THE INFLUENCE OF PERCEIVED PRODUCT QUALITY AND PERCEIVED SERVICE QUALITY TOWARD CUSTOMER VALUE, BEHAVIOR INTENTION AND CUSTOMER RESPONSE RESIDENTIAL AREA IN SOUTH KALIMANTAN PROVINCE — sutrisno ., 2019, journal article
  9. No correlation between headphone frequency response and retail price — Breebaart J, 2017, journal article
  10. Subjective Evaluation of Three Headphone-Based Virtual Sound Source Positioning Methods Including Differential Head-Related Transfer Function — Storek D, Rund F, Marsalek P, 2016, journal article
How much research is there on headphone?
10 publications are indexed here, of which 0 are trials and 0 are syntheses.
Does more research mean a stronger conclusion?
No. Composition matters more than volume — five randomised trials support a claim far better than fifty commentaries, and citation counts do not distinguish between them.
How current is this?
The most recent paper indexed here is from 2025. The set is refreshed weekly from PubMed and Crossref.
Why does this page not tell me the answer?
Because summarising a literature into a conclusion requires reading it, and doing that automatically is how confident nonsense gets published. This page tells you how much weight a conclusion could bear; the articles on this site do the interpreting.

References

Every citation below links to the original peer-reviewed record on PubMed or via DOI. Nothing here is a substitute for medical advice.

  1. Does Perceived Green Space Quality Matter? Linking Norwegian Adult Perspectives on Perceived Quality to Motivation and Frequency of Visits Fongar C, Aamodt G, Randrup T, et al. · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · 2019 · Journal article DOI
  2. The importance of frequency–place mismatch in the quality of sound perceived in single-sided deafness among cochlear implant recipients Gersdorff G, Ivanovic N, Zoka Assadi M, et al. · Frontiers in Audiology and Otology · 2025 · Journal article DOI
  3. Effect of Frequency Response Manipulations on Musical Sound Quality for Cochlear Implant Users Mo J, Jiam N, Deroche M, et al. · Trends in Hearing · 2022 · Journal article DOI
  4. Waveform Quality Evaluation Method of Variable-Frequency Current Based on Curve Fitting Zhao S, Liu Y · Energies · 2022 · Journal article DOI
  5. Perceived Sound Quality Dimensions Influencing Frequency-Gain Shaping Preferences for Hearing Aid-Amplified Speech and Music Vaisberg J, Beaulac S, Glista D, et al. · Trends in Hearing · 2021 · Journal article DOI
  6. The perception and measurement of headphone sound quality Olive S, Welti T, Khonsariopour O · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 2019 · Journal article DOI
  7. the THE INFLUENCE OF PERCEIVED PRODUCT QUALITY AND PERCEIVED SERVICE QUALITY TOWARD CUSTOMER VALUE, BEHAVIOR INTENTION AND CUSTOMER RESPONSE RESIDENTIAL AREA IN SOUTH KALIMANTAN PROVINCE sutrisno . · Archives of Business Research · 2019 · Journal article DOI
  8. Perceived Target Range Shapes Human Sound-Localization Behavior Ege R, Van Opstal A, Van Wanrooij M · eneuro · 2019 · Journal article DOI
  9. No correlation between headphone frequency response and retail price Breebaart J · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 2017 · Journal article DOI
  10. Subjective Evaluation of Three Headphone-Based Virtual Sound Source Positioning Methods Including Differential Head-Related Transfer Function Storek D, Rund F, Marsalek P · Archives of Acoustics · 2016 · Journal article DOI