Urban Headphone Listening and the Situational Fit of Music, Radio and Podcasting

Abstract

Many people wear headphones during movement through their city, and they listen to a variety of sound genres like music, talk, lectures, etc. This study focuses on the pedestrian headphone listener who may spend an hour or more traveling every day. It explores the situational fit of three media; music playlists, live radio, and podcasting, during public transit.A field trial was conducted in London, UK in December 2013. Ten adult iPhone users were exposed to a music playlist on Spotify, live news from London's Biggest Conversation (LBC), and educational podcasts from BBC Radio 4, while simultaneously going about their business in Central London. This study discovered informants were more interested in curating their music, and less interested in engaging with the social concerns of live radio, or the learned address of educational podcasting. Music was felt as relaxing while radio and podcasting were felt as more imposing on their concentration. In sum, the participants found radio and podcasting to have weaker situational fit than music during pedestrian headphone listening.