Headset Side

[silvonus]

Which side do you like to have your headset on? I found that I could hear the actors on stage, or if my board ops were talking to me (we were all in the same booth), better with my right ear, so I started putting my headset on my left ear, to keep my right free. Now I don’t think I could do anything else, putting my headset on my right side just feels weird. I’m that way with everything now. I always just have the left earbud in when I listen to music. Also, I like the keeping the headset on my left side because I’m right handed, and I hate having the cord in the way if I need to write something. So I was wondering as to everyone else’s preference. Which side do you prefer?

If this goes in a different forum, please move it.

[killerdana]

I go back and forth.  Sometimes I even switch sides at intermission to feel more balanced.

[RuthNY]

I'm left-eared, and always have been!  I don't know where that came from, but it's one of my only SM "quirks" (to quote a different thread.)  I try to be very flexible and not have "quirks" that are unchangeable from performance to performance, or production to production, but this is physical, and it would be very difficult for me to "have to be" right-eared,

Which side do you like to have your headset on?

[smejs]

One of the many reasons I have my own headset is because many "standard" headsets at theatres are on the left side, and I can basically only stand it on my right.  That and I love my lightweight.  (And I have a small head, evidently, compared to many.)  However, a while back I read some study that decide there were differences in which ear processed which kind of thing...I can't find it quickly...but it basically confirmed how I felt:  technical issues were more of a right-eared thing and noticing nuances and mood changes were left-eared.  In my mind that matched with listening to production folks through my right ear and changes in the acting or a "pin drop" change in my left ear.  'Course I was biased to begin with.

I'll keep looking for that study.

Erin

[wtcsrstaph4life]

For me it kind depends, if I have people that are going to talk to me not through the headset, I have my open ear to them. I've also been known to switch which side my headset is on if my ear gets too hot. One of the more deciding factors I've also noticed is which side is the headset already set up for, if the person before me had it on their right then I wear it on my right, if it was on their left then I wear it on my left.

[smejs]

a while back I read some study that decide there were differences in which ear processed which kind of thing

Ah, it has to do with left hemisphere of the brain versus right (opposite the corresponding ear).  I just found at http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_6_100/ai_76800059:
 Research has shown that the left hemisphere of the brain is associated with analytical thinking and logic and controls speech, mathematical ability and reading. The right side of the brain is said to be more visually oriented and more associated with emotion and creativity.  (The same article says if you want to whisper sweet nothings to someone, you should do it in their left ear!)

[shorty]

i prefer the right side.  for some reason i can hear my operators better on that side.  and the times that my actors needed to talk to me, they've been on my left side, so it's worked out perfectly so far.

[MarcieA]

I prefer my right side, but if i can't wear it there it's ok. I ran a show in December where my sound op was on my right with no headset so i wore it on my left with no problem.

I am also a left sided person, so i tend to reach for things with my left hand which makes wearing it on the right easier.

I never thought about it until right now though!

[SummerShakespeare]

i usually wear it on my Left but I think I am going to try right tonight! That article was so cool!

[smejs]

Slightly off-topic, but the following article was also interesting:
http://www.dyslexia.org/el.shtml

Evidently using the same concept, they pump music through the left ear, and phonics/words through the right ear to combat dyslexia.  Makes me even more, though, agree on why I like right ear...especially for a musical or opera!

Erin

[Mac Calder]

My use of the left ear primarily comes from the fact I started calling shows from prompt corner. So if I am facing stage in PC, then the open ear is my right ear, which is the side that I am most likely to be approached from.

Since that is how it has "Always been", wearing it any other way feels wrong.

That, and I keep my two way radio on my right hand side when at work, so the closer it is to my open ear, the lower the volume I can have it at.

[Aerial]

Left side.  I don't know where that came from, but it drives me nuts if it's not.   If it's wireless, I also like my pack to be on my left side, cause I wear my tool pouch and phone on the right.

[Rebbe]

I’ll wear it on either side.  It depends on what I want to hear...or not hear.  If I’m in a booth, for instance, and the monitor speaker is to my left, I may wear my headset on the right so I can hear the monitor better.  But sometimes the monitor is too loud, so I’d put the headset on my monitor side. 

[chops]

I have to have mine on the left ear.  I use my right ear for my cell phone so it has to be free in case I get a call in the middle of a show.  I was actually calling a show this afternoon on headset while talking to the box office on my phone.  It was a little wierd when my box office manager asked me a question about a customer and I responded with "And dismember his hand, Camera 1 zoom and watch hand twitch, Bill down the blood a little, and video fade."  I love magic shows. 

[thehayworth]

I just want one that can be switched.  I hate hate hate when they are fixed for one side.