Featured Article from Unified Communications Headsets

Is Headset 'Burning In' Necessary for Call Centers?

By Casey Houser
Contributing Writer

Even for people who sit between the right and left side of unified communications headsets all day, the concept of “burning in” those headsets probably comes as foreign. It is a term reserved for audiophiles, so laymen, even those with experience in the practice of using headphones, get left behind.

The idea of burning in, says a recent blog post at Jabra (News - Alert), relates closely to wearing in a pair of running shoes. Runners take it easy on their new shoes for a number of miles until the fabric has settled into a shape that better fits the foot. Likewise, audiophiles can use their headphones for a certain period of time before experiencing the full potential of their speakers. But does this phenomenon actually exist? And does it matter for call center professionals?

Basically, evidence for the burning is speculative and primed for individual interpretation. It largely comes down to some people saying it matters while a vocal opposite side says it does not matter. For the benefit of those individuals who use unified communications headsets, however, TMC (News - Alert) will at least pass along one study that Jabra cites in order to shed some light on the reality of this debate.

The blog post notes the work of an audiophile named Tyll Herstens who attempts to create several sets of blind tests that can display the effect (if any) of burning. His first test of two pairs of headphones – one without burning and another with about 1000 hours of burning – has him listen to each one, without looking, as the result of a coin flip. During each listen, he states whether or not he thinks that headphone had been burned, and his testing partner writes down the results. At no point can he see which pair of headphones is which, but he consistently guesses correctly which pair has been burned.

In a second test, he measures the frequency response of a single pair of headphones that had been burned for five minutes, 25 minutes, and 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 40, 65, and 90 hours of pink noise. Tyll measured the frequency response between each condition. He says the evidence of frequency response at each stage points to evidence that burning in is a real effect. However, that study, when combined with a previous study, only appears to convince him that the effect is real but not necessarily a “dramatic change” in any way other than individual listeners getting used to their audio gear.

If that is the result, then it probably will not be necessary for call centers to take all their new sets of unified communications headsets and play pink noise on them for 90 hours each before handing them to agents. The headsets will work just fine, and they may work even better after a few weeks of regular use. Unless an audio aficionado sits within their ranks, the noise on a new or worn pair should not make a difference to the outcome of any customer service.