Why we had to design our own headsets

(by the Headset House boss)

I'm a headset fanatic, and a big believer in binaural. I have two ears, and like to use both of them.

■ I often work in an office with three other people, and a dog or two. I couldn't possibly have a phone conversation with a single-ear headset.

I became addicted to binaural a long time ago. It seems more natural, and it's just much easier to understand what someone is saying when the voice is in the middle of my head, instead of out in left field. Or right field.

A few years ago, I was attending a convention. Like most conventions and trade shows, it was VERY NOISY. I needed to use my cell phone, and I was smart enough to have a headset with me; but unless I stuck a finger in my other ear, I could not block the noise and hear the person I called.

►STUPID STUFF: you shouldn't need two hands to talk on the phone!◄

I looked around the convention floor, and saw lots of people using cellphones with fingers, or even pens and pencils, stuck in their ears.

• I even saw a woman sticking her cellphone's antenna in one ear while using a headset on her other ear.
• One busy guy was holding a Palm Pilot with his left hand and the stylus in his right hand; and had some other guy hold a cell phone against his right ear while covering up his left ear to block the noise. It took TWO PEOPLE to make a phone call. Ugh!
• Later, I saw people doing the same stupid stuff on a train, and in a train station, and in airports, airplanes, parks, parking lots, stadiums, schools and on the sidewalk.

I thought this was ridiculous and unnecessary and dangerous! Years ago, my grandmother wisely warned me, "Never put anything in your ear that's smaller than your elbow!"

I wondered why all these people were sticking fingers and writing implements in their ears, when there's such an obvious solution.

Then I checked around.

There was just one binaural headset with a 2.5mm plug, but it was a heavy-duty model better suited for a driver of a tractor, than for someone in an airport or convention center. Some "business" headsets could be adapted to fit into 2.5mm jacks, but the adapters were bulky and fragile -- they could easily get snagged and pop apart and you'd lose the conversation.

We arranged for GN Netcom to make a binaural version of their great "Optima Mobile" monaural headset, and we sold a bunch. But when we tried to order more, they weren't interested in making more.

So, we got another company to make a headset exactly the way we wanted it to be. We're very proud of our new BN25. It's less expensive than the GN, and it's better. People liked it so much, that we developed a one-ear "monaural" model, the MN25. Both models are lightweight, comfortable, rugged and extra-efficient -- so voices are louder than with most other headsets. We've sold a ton of them.

Michael N. Marcus