What are Stereo Headphones?

Stereo Headphones are headphones that play back distinct sounds out of the two speakers, the left speaker and the right speaker. Stereo headphones work by playing sound from two independent channels, a left channel for the left speaker output and a right channel for right speaker output. This way, distinct sounds come out of the two speakers. This is in contrast to mono headphones, which is not capable of playing back independent distinct sounds out of the two speakers, but plays the same exact sound out of both speakers.

Stereo headphones offer the advantage that they can play sound with a surround sound effect. If a recording is taken in a room and different sounds are coming from the left and right sides of the room, a recording can be taken that picks up both sounds from the left and right as they occur and records them on two separate channels, one for a left side recording and the other for a right side recording. With monaural headphones, sound can only be played back on one channel, usually the left, and the other channel is ignored. So if a monaural headphone is used, it can only play back sound from the left channel, or the left sounds of the room. However, with stereo headphones, the left and right side recordings can be played back, since stereo headphones play back sound from both channels. This is the advantage of stereo headphones.

Stereo headphones are by far the most common type of headphones now in the market and in use. Most audio now, including the radio, cinema, and video games, all produce sound on two separate channels, a left side recording and a right side recording, to give a surround sound effect. In order to play back these sounds as they are made, stereo headphones must be used.