Abstract: A method of controlling headphones having external microphone signal pass-through functionality may involve controlling a display to present a geometric shape on the display and receiving an indication of digit motion from a sensor system associated with the display. The sensor system may include a touch sensor system or a gesture sensor system. The indication may be an indication of a direction of digit motion relative to the display. The method may involve controlling the display to present a sequence of images indicating that the geometric shape either enlarges or contracts, depending on the direction of digit motion and changing a headphone transparency setting according to a current size of the geometric shape. The headphone transparency setting may correspond to an external microphone signal gain setting and/or a media signal gain setting of the headphones.