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Raja Simhan T.E.

Headsets are going beyond the walkman and are increasingly playing a vital role in the use of the PC and the cell-phone.

IF somebody were to say the word headset, you'd probably think of the walkman and music. But headsets are going beyond just music and are playing an increasingly important role in today's digital era.

Peep into any call centre and what do you see? People sitting glued to their PCs, and talking to customers, and all this through that important gadget - the headset.

Headsets are also coming into play in the use of mobile phones and PCs.

For instance, personal computers have audio as a major component. Games, MP3 music files, Internet telephony, chat and movies — no matter what one does with the computer, it is important that the audio output is of good quality. Towards this end, headsets play an important role in allowing browsers to enjoy their music or watch movies with privacy, while working or at leisure.

The global market for headsets is about $1 billion. Other than the US, the biggest market, there is a steady increase for headsets in the Asia-Pacific, especially in India, Korea and China. India is one of the fastest growing markets in the region, thanks to the increasing number of call centre units coming up in the country, says Philip Vanhoutte, Managing Director of the US-based Plantronics Ltd, the headset manufacturer. In Korea, the growth is fuelled by the Internet games mania, he says. For Plantronics, 40 per cent of revenue comes from contact centres, another 40 per cent from the office segment and the rest from mobile and computer handsets, he says.

The call centre is heavily dependent on headsets. Though figures are not available, the Indian market for headsets is as big as the call centre and the BPO sector. Vanhoutte says the headset market hasn't been taken very seriously because people generally think headsets are required only to listen to music or chat online. However, a lot of interesting developments have taken place in the recent past in the industry, he says.

The call centre industry led the boom for headsets about a decade ago and will continue to dominate the headset industry for the next few years, he says. Online chatting came next and boosted the market significantly. The telecom industry has also increased the headset requirement, the reason being that in various countries, including the US, mobile users should use an earphone while driving. Some State Governments, including Tamil Nadu in India, have such a regulation.

Vanhoutte stresses that it is important that people buy quality headsets. A headset ought to, first, be comfortable. Everyone's ear is unique, as unique as a fingerprint. Plantronics has taken physical moulds of over 900 different ear types, he says. The company scans them into a CAD (computer-aided design) database and uses that to design products that are more comfortable for different types of ears.

Plantronics has a manufacturing base in Tijuana, Mexico. It offers mobile headsets to address the cordless and mobile phone market, personal computer audio headset products for computer applications and corded and cordless headsets, and systems for the office, small office/home office segments and contact centres.

The company introduced the first lightweight communications headset in 1962 and is today one of the world's leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of lightweight communications headset products, says Vanhoutte. The company's headsets are widely used in many Fortune 500 corporations and have been featured in numerous films and high-profile events, including Neil Armstrong's historic `One small step for man' transmission from the moon in 1969, he says.

R. Jagadish, Chief Executive Officer of the Chennai-based Allsec Technologies, a call centre company, says it is important that call centres have the right kind of headsets. Each instrument, costing about Rs 15,000, should feature a noise cancelling system. It should cut out all other frequencies and transmit only the highest frequency — voice.

Vanhoutte stresses that the call centre business relies on clear, effective communications with customers. The headset is the most important link between agents and customers, and selecting headsets is an important decision for the business.

In India, Vanhoutte expects the demand for communication headsets to increase significantly in the coming years. Contact centres will mainly drive the growth, and the office and home segments will also contribute to it.

Currently, contact centres account for about 90 per cent of the communication headsets in India. Mobile phone headsets sales too will pick up, thanks to the growth of mobile telephony in the country while the share of the office segment will also grow driven by needs such as conference calls.

Picture by Shaju John

raja@thehindu.co.in

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