Open-Ear Headphones as Ambient Interfaces: Cognitive Augmentation and Sociality in Everyday Use

Open-ear headphones leave the ear canal unobstructed while users engage with personal audio. This combination of personal and environmental sound raises human factors questions about situational awareness, multitasking, and social interaction that have not been investigated in everyday use. Sixteen participants wore open-ear headphones and captured first-person video of their daily activities over 2 weeks, then reviewed the footage with researchers in replay interviews. Reflexive thematic analysis identified four themes: awareness and safety across domestic and mobile contexts; ambient curation in which participants deliberately layered personal audio over environmental sound; privacy and presence , in which the form factor altered both signaling and content sensitivity; and embodied experience , highlighting constraints around hair, piercings, and posture. The findings point to design opportunities for user safety, signaling availability, and accommodating diverse bodies, and suggest further research into the potential for the form factor to support cognition and social activity in hybrid spaces.