Akanksha Sanghi cannot leave home without them. They give the first-year College student a sense of place, a reminder of her native home of India - 10,000 miles away from the University. Her headphones cup her ears and fill her with a feeling of warmth and privacy.
And Sanghi is part of a trend seen all across Grounds. Whether trekking to class or relaxing on the bus ride home, students like her often don these earpieces to help them sustain a certain sense of privacy.
While headphones may serve to isolate many students from the hustle and bustle of everyday University life, they also help play the role of a time-machine, sending the listener to a cozy comfort zone where time seems to fly by.
"I guess the reason why I wear headphones to class is that it makes the walk seem shorter," first-year College student Chris Antone said.
The reason, however, is not always that simple or obvious.
"Listening to Hindi music makes me feel closer to my home in India," Sanghi said.
First-year College student Bo Williamson agrees that wearing headphones can offer a sense of comfort and proximity.
"I miss driving around in my car listening to music," Williamson said. "So I put on my headphones while going to class because it seems like the next best alternative."
There is no doubt that headphones are a popular accessory on Grounds. But not all students have a positive reaction to them.
"I think it's irritating and embarrassing when you call out to a friend and they just walk by," second-year College student Lisa Smith said. "You are left looking like a fool."
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Fourth-year Commerce student Gordon Braxton has had similar embarrassing run-ins with friends while wearing his headphones.
"Well, wearing headphones does make you anti-social," Braxton said. "After all, what are the odds of you stopping someone with headphones on and asking them the time?"
Braxton instead said he prefers to lose himself in the lyrics of a song while wearing headphones, but only when not in a group.
"I only listen to music when I am all by myself," Braxton said. "However, there have been times when people have called out to me and I just walked past them."
Consequently, first-year College student Stephen Richards puts his headphones to an alternative use.
"When someone is walking next to me and talking nonsense, I just turn on my music really loud," Richards said.
But for Richards, listening to his headphones means much more than targeting an overly talkative group nearby.
"I need to have my headphones on. Some people drink coffee, I listen to music to wake me up," he said. "For me it's like a shot of caffeine. Music rejuvenates me."
But even more than offering a sense of dependence, headphones also offer a sanctuary from the communal University life, where students so often must live, eat and study in close proximity to one another.
Sanghi and her roommate, first-year College student Esha Pandaya, said they have been best friends since the first day that they met, yet they both believe in giving each other time alone.
"Music helps you to gather your thoughts and it relaxes you," Pandaya said. "Akanksha and I often walk to class together but we each have our Discmans with us. After all, we both need our space and privacy."
Those who don headphones on a regular basis seem to have developed their own type of silent communication.
"People with headphones acknowledge each others' presence all the time," Richards said. "We have hand signals, facial expressions that we exchange while walking past one another. We understand each other."
From the diverse shapes and sizes of the headphones students often sport around Grounds, one would think that local music stores would offer wide selections of headphones. But that's not case.
Ron Zimmer, who works at Heinz Musitronics on Ivy Road, said his store has a demand for headphones, though only when used while recording or playing an amplifier.
Most of Heinz Musitronics' customers are students, and for this reason they remain well stocked with the popular "signal flex" brand of headphones in two different styles.
But outside of Charlottesville, the electronics market for headphones is much larger. According to Jenson, a leading electronics company in the country, they offer four main types of headphones - the earbuds, sports-style, mid-size and full-size.
For many students, listening to music with headphones on may seem like a trivial matter, but for some it's personal.
"It's not like my day would be incomplete without my headphones," Williamson said, "but it would just be a whole lot better with them"
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