“Listening in Between” is a project examines this paradox through headphones, an ordinary object that offers personal comfort and control while rewriting the rules of social interaction. As headphones carve out private spaces within public settings, they redefine the ways we listen, communicate, and coexist with others, and challenge us to reconsider the balance between personal comfort and shared social experience.

Drawing on interviews with 18 participants from varied backgrounds and generations, this project gathers personal accounts of listening and imagined “headphone worlds.” These stories map out the intimate soundscapes people create for themselves, revealing listening as a quiet negotiation between inner experience and shared reality.