The Headset – An Invaluable Communications Device

Posted by Deepak Shrivastava
March 29, 2010

Grab a pair of headphones, attach a microphone and you’ll have in your hands a headset. The functionality of a telephone with the added benefit of hands-free operation is a headset’s chief characteristic. Generally speaking, a typical headset includes an attached, single speaker for talking into and a pair of earphones for listening. Although headsets are used for commonplace yet vital communications jobs, such as in corporate call centers, they also play a pivotal role in many extraordinary and exciting jobs such as in the aeronautics, military, airline and television industries.30

The headset was invented about one hundred years ago by Nathaniel Baldwin. It wasn’t until World War 1, however, that headsets broke into mainstream use. Early models were used by the U.S. Army and Navy while subsequent models began to find their way into the nascent airline industry. Probably the most famous use of a headset was when astronaut Neil Armstrong communicated his famous “one giant leap for mankind” line while taking his first moonwalk.

“Monaural” headsets are those with one earpiece while those with two earpieces can either be classified as being “stereo” or “binaural”. A stereo headset has one audio channel signal for each earpiece; binaural headsets split the audio channel and send it to both earpieces. Speaking from my television broadcasting experience, I enjoy using monaural (single earpiece) headsets which allow me to communicate with my production team on the studio floor while keeping one ear free for communicating with personnel inside the master control room. This is a common set-up for those who need to communicate with their teammates in the command center while maintaining simultaneous contact with those “out in the field”.

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