Technology presented herein improves the comfort of over ear headphones by reducing over ear heat and therefore sweat via an active ventilation mechanism. Headphones include two or more one-way valves: one valve at the bottom of the cup allowing air to flow in, and another valve at the top of the earcup allowing air to flow out of the earcup. In the audible frequency range the valves have high acoustic impedance in both directions to prevent the sound from escaping from the earcup into the environment. In the inaudible frequency range the valves operate as an upward pump because the upward direction has low impedance and the downward direction has high impedance. The pumping action is further aided by the natural tendency of warm air to rise, and by the speaker creating positive and negative pressure within the earcup and therefore expelling or sucking in air, respectively.