Flutterby™! : How you listen changes your trust levels

A voice inside my head: The psychological and behavioral consequences of auditory technologies Alicea Lieberman, Juliana Schroeder, On Amir

Five experiments demonstrate that because headphones localize sound inside a listener’s head (i.e., in-head localization, the sensation that the sound is originating from within one’s own head), they increase listeners’ felt closeness to the communicators of a message. Consequently, listeners perceive the communicators as warmer, feel and behave more empathically toward them, and are more persuaded by them.

Via.