Avionics News August 2016 - 29

f our only sources of information were movies, many pilots would never know that aviation
headsets exist in colors other than the olive green of what shows up on the silver screens.
You know what I mean - and that company makes excellent products, no question.

Visit your friendly neighborhood flight line, ramp or crew lounge, and the product placement

becomes far more diverse - and getting more so, both in brand and model-feature diversity.
As with everything else electronic,
used alternative to human message
the realm of the once-lowly aviation
runners came in the form of the "voice
headset offers many choices with
pipe" - a long run of tube with a flared
WIRELESS HEADSETS
varied features incorporating the
end, into which the speaker spoke on
REPRESENT THE
newest digital technologies at prices
one end while, at the other end, the lisLATEST STEP
to fit a range of budgets and divertener tilted an ear.
gent cockpit environments.
Early uses date back to the 18th
FORWARD IN HEADSET
Arguably, the part of general aviacentury, and maritime applications
TECHNOLOGY,
tion seeing the slowest rate of evolucontinue in some vessels yet today. Extion is powerplants, while avionics
pensive automobiles, homes and, early
unarguably lead in the pace of prodin aviation history, military aircraft all
uct advances - and headsets in recent
benefited from this voice-driven, airyears shows its kinship with the adpowered communications technology.
vances of electronics in and behind
Its prevalence began to fade shortly
the panel.
after the advent of wireless-telegraph
Before about two decades ago,
communications - the radio.
headset technology's biggest adEarly telephones provided the base
vance arrived in the form of active
technology for transmitting voice; ranoise reduction after minimal change since the days when pidio provided the incentive for a headset. A young Stanford
lots stopped wearing leather flying helmets with integral headUniversity student created the first accepted radio headset in
set components.
1910. After several years of frustrated efforts to win accepToday, the avionics industry offers such variety that custance for his invention, Nathaniel Baldwin received an order
tomers enjoy more choices than ever. They get to pick between
for 100 radio headsets from the U.S. Navy, giving the invenboth passive and active noise reduction; they can choose ontion the boost needed. Headsets have been an advancing techthe-ear, over-the-ear and in-the-ear systems; mono or stereo.
nology ever since.
Even a choice between wired and wireless headsets.
In 1961, two pilots teamed up to found Plantronics to make
Quite a spread and one that grew out of digital advances of
and market their invention - a cockpit headset that was comthe past 20 years.
fortable to use and as light as possible to wear. That headset
remains around today, Plantronics MS50, long claimant as the
A brief history of cockpit noise:
lightest headset in the world.
In the beginning
What originally served aviation interests ultimately expandCommunicating between different parts of large machines
ed, making inroads in industry, music and other military applipresented significant challenges long before the advent of
powered flight. On board ships, the most effective, widely
Continued on following page

AND ALREADY
THE OPTIONS
ARE MANY.

avionics news

august

2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News August 2016