Easy Listening: When It Comes To Comfort And Safety, Plantronics Is All Ears

Customer Inter@ction Solutions, Feb 2008 by McGrogan, Joe

Eight hours is a long time to carry a conversation, especially when you're wearing a telecommunications headset on your ear. And straining to hear a caller, coping with uncomfortable or unsafe volume spikes, or feeling heat or pressure from a headset can add to the load of a contact center shift. Equipping agents with headsets designed for comfort and safety not only improves key uptime metrics but also improves customer satisfaction.

Embracing Auditory Diversity

The big hurdle to creating a comfortable headset is that all ears are not created equal. Plantronics has conducted the industry's most extensive research into variations of the human ear. The "wall of ears" at the company's Design Center represents the external ears of thousands of individuals. By analyzing these samples, Plantronics has built the world's largest statistical database of human ear shapes. It includes men and women of different ages and from different ethnicities, representative of the entire world's population.

Using this database, Plantronics engineers apply the latest computer modeling in the development of its headsets. The result is the lightest possible headset with a design that fits 97 percent of all ears comfortably - not too tightly, not too loosely, and with a good line of sound to the ear canal.

Pleasing To The Ear

The design of a safe and comfortable headset goes beyond calculating the right size and shape; it includes choosing the right materials and components. Plantronics uses only hypoallergenic materials in significantly reduce allergic reactions. An advanced micro-honeycomb material in the ear cushions also reduces uncomfortable heat and sweatiness by allowing the cushions to breathe. Plantronics engineers have even worked to overcome the problems caused by the buildup of static electricity from contact with synthetic carpet and other materials in die contact center environment. A unique anti-static design significantly reduces the likelihood of annoying tingling from low-level static discharge, making calls more comfortable and less stressful.

Safety and comfort also go hand-in-hand when it comes to sound levels. Plantronics goes beyond just incorporating technology to assure safe OSHA sound levels. Understanding todays diverse call input sources - calls coming in on a variety of mobile phones, land lines and voice over IP can have dramatically different incoming volume levels - Plantronics builds sophisticated technology into its headsets to assure comfortable listening regardless of the incoming volume level.

This includes advanced sound-limiting technology to ensure that occasional highvolume spikes are capped at a safe and comfortable level. As a result, agents can set their preferred volume level high enough so that they don't have to strain to hear callers, without having to worry about being startled by sudden spikes of volume. This reduces agent fatigue and delivers superior comfort, which translates into a "smiling voice" on the line.

So when thinking about ways to improve uptime and increase customer satisfaction, consider the design of your headsets. Superior safety and comfort are just two reasons why more contact centers around the world rely on Plantronics headsets.

For more information, visit www.plantronics.com/contactcenter

By Joe McGrogan, Director of Marketing B2B Solutions, Plantronics, Inc.