A display housing for a head mounted image display apparatus, said display housing being configured to be mounted to the head of a user with a pair of optical visual units adapted to present a virtual image to the user and a pair of earphones for providing sound to the user, each of the earphones attached to a respective side of the housing via a respective wire. The display housing comprises a linear wire retraction assembly situated thereacross, the wire retraction assembly configured to control the amount that a respective wire is pulled from the housing to allow each earphone to be selectably movable between a first, retracted state and a second, extended state.