A Brief History of the Plantronics Headset
Aviation fuelled the headset industry in its early
days. Plantronics was founded in 1961 by two pilots
who wanted a lighter, more comfortable headset for
use in the cockpit. They created the Plantronics
MS50, the world's lightest headset at the time and
this model is still used by commercial aircraft
pilots today!
We've pioneered the way for NASA, Air Traffic
Control, emergency dispatch operators as well as
homes and offices. This article is designed to give
you the basics and a little bit of history on how
headsets were developed.
Headset or Headphone?
A common mistake is to confuse these two terms.
Headphones are mainly used for listening to music
while headsets are used for both listening and
talking. Both have earpieces, but only headsets
incorporate a microphone, which enable them to be
used with phones, computers, and other special
applications.
Headsets can be used for making phone calls,
listening to music, playing video games, speech
recognition technology, or any number of other uses.
A great benefit of headsets is that they leave your
hands free to do other things while you communicate.
What is the noise level?
Determine your contact centre's noise level so you
can select the appropriate headsets. Investing in
features that you may not need, or compromising on
those you do, can leave you with headsets that
aren’t suited to your particular contact centre
environment.
|
| Noise Level and/or Work
Application |
Suggested
Model |
Over 75dB
Agent needs both ears covered to concentrate on the
customers voice and block-out surrounding
environment |
Binaural Receiver
Noise-Cancelling Microphone E.g. SupraPlus |
65 - 75dB
Agent needs an open ear to be in tune with
surrounding environment or to confer with a
colleague |
Monaural Receiver or
Over-the-Ear Style E.g. SupraPlus, Tristar, DuoPro |
| under 65dB |
Monaural Receiver or
Over-the-Ear Style Noise-Cancelling or Voice Tube
Microphone E.g. SupraPlus, Tristar, DuoPro |
