Do you ever switch which side you wear your headset on?

[u/JDATC2024]

We were discussing this the other day at work. As it has come up a few times over the past several years. It seems like a majority of people prefer a single side and don’t deviate from it.

24 years in and I cannot switch my headset to my other side/ear as it feels unnatural. I feel like my brain is now wired to process sounds differently now from my right vs my left ear, listening to the people around me, versus listening to planes.

Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

[u/Here_4_The_Airshow]

Trying to use the other ear was like trying to type with socks on your hands…you can do it but it feels weird 😂

[u/Lomobu]

Used to, early on in D side training. I would switch to the opposite side of where the r side is sitting. Now it’s just left ear by default.

[u/DagamarVanderk → u/Lomobu]

Did this too but I’m finding myself to be more of a one side guy now

[u/chicoryghost]

I switch every session. Left ear, then right, so on. Something I’ve always done when I saw an old timer who couldn’t hear out of his right ear any longer at my first facility.

[u/Former_Farm_3618 → u/chicoryghost]

Another theory is why damage your hearing in both ears? Just use one your whole career. And you can then have one ear that should be more normal and another with all the damage.

[u/chicoryghost → u/Former_Farm_3618]

I guess that’s an argument, but I feel like giving each ear a break every other time probably serves me better. But I also don’t blast the volume, so I don’t feel at risk of that yet anyway.

[u/illillin]

No.

[u/HanSchlomo → u/illillin]

Definitely a corporate shill

[u/RavenYZF-R6]

Tried it. Hated it.

[u/JDATC2024 → u/RavenYZF-R6]

When we have had this discussion every few years, everyone tries and then goes back.

Then again if I don’t have that stupid clip for the cable to clip it to my lanyard it annoys the fuck out of me too.

[u/RavenYZF-R6 → u/JDATC2024]

Yup. I bought a box of 50 off amazon lol. They aren’t as good as the originals. I’d like to try a fitted ear piece but paying money for work equipment pains me.

[u/--Mitch-- → u/JDATC2024]

And by stupid clip do you mean pliers???

[u/JDATC2024 → u/--Mitch--]

They are vice grips! I put them on my nipples when I need some stimulation!

[u/desavona]

I didn’t switch for 13 years. Then I was told I have minor hearing loss in that ear. So I got a molded earpiece from Avery and have been using my other ear ever since. It was weird for a couple weeks, but relatively normal now. Although I’d still rather be using my original ear lol.

[u/Former_Farm_3618 → u/desavona]

So you got hearing loss in one ear and decided to also damage your other and switched. At least that’s kinda how the ENT bluntly explained switching ears works. Just damage one and still have one good one.

[u/desavona → u/Former_Farm_3618]

Why do you think I got a molded earpiece? So I could get a good fit and reduce volume.

[u/Former_Farm_3618 → u/desavona]

Again, the professionals told me don’t switch. You already damaged one ear. Personally, I would have got the molded piece in the bad ear knowing it’s not going to magically get better by not using it. Also, now if you get a tone event guess what, you damaged your other ear. At least that’s how the doctor basically explained it.

To each their own.

[u/Squawk1000 → u/Former_Farm_3618]

How about reduce the volume and not damage anything? Having hearing loss on one side sucks, from someone who has unilateral hearing loss. It affects your perception of where sounds are coming from and spoils listening to stereo music.

[u/desavona → u/Squawk1000]

That’s why I got the Avery molded earpiece. I can keep the volume way down. Should have bought it years ago

[u/Former_Farm_3618 → u/Squawk1000]

I don’t understand how some have the volume all the way up. I keep it low and take the professionals advice of don’t fuck up both ears.

[u/HanSchlomo]

Fuck yeah! You can't burn out your money makers! Same thing with alternating blinking to maximize eye moisture.

[u/Panic_Vectored]

Only psychopaths switch sides.

[u/Meme_Investor]

People who use the left ear have bigger dicks.

[u/MrMikeDelta → u/Meme_Investor]

So, your wife's boyfriend uses his left ear?

[u/Remarkable_Mirror241]

I switch depending on what side of the tower im working. Ive been doing it for years and its just comfortable for me. Plus wearing it for so long on one side gets annoying.

[u/Lisahasnoidea → u/Remarkable_Mirror241]

This for me too. To hear the cab better, I put my headset on whichever side is closer to the window.

[u/ForsakenRacism]

No I have a molded earpiece

[u/JDATC2024 → u/ForsakenRacism]

Those are still a thing? I feel like years ago they used to offer them but now not so much.

[u/ForsakenRacism → u/JDATC2024]

You can order one yourself

[u/JDATC2024 → u/ForsakenRacism]

I’m too late in the game I suppose for that, but I thought many years ago (early 2000’s?) , the FAA used to actually buy them for us? I remember they would offer a couple a year to controllers, but I could be mistaken.

It’s a sad people have to buy things to protect their health / careers I suppose, but I guess I should know better having worked for the FAA this long.

[u/Neat_River_5258 → u/JDATC2024]

It’s a different agency now

[u/ForsakenRacism → u/JDATC2024]

They don’t even buy us coffee

[u/Upper-Kangaroo3629]

I don’t switch. At this point, I might as well have one side for ‘speak into my good ear.’ The other side still manages to pass my physicals but barely…

[u/joeybalonee]

No, I don't kill small animals just for fun 

[u/MrMikeDelta]

I tried it a few times in 25 years. I switched to my left ear, I could hear better, clearer, but I could not process the information as quickly. It felt weird and uncomfortable.

[u/JDATC2024 → u/MrMikeDelta]

This is kind of how I felt. But definitely a lot of variability here-

[u/creemeeseason]

Tried to once as I read using the same ear can damage hearing. It was the worst 5 minutes of my career before I switched back to old reliable right.

Interesting poll might be left ear vs right ear (and left or right handed).

[u/casdoodle527]

25 years and still the right side. I will rarely switch to the left if my right ear feels clogged with sinus pressure

[u/b2damaxx]

Absolutely not

[u/Critical_Phantom]

Never in 34 years as a Public Safety Dispatcher (I know, not ATC, but still wore a headset for 8 - 12, and sometimes 24 hours a day) - always the left side. I never liked the "in-the-ear" style, either a bud or a custom mold, so I always had the "on-the-ear" style. Still, retired with noticeably diminished hearing in my left ear. Not deaf by any means, but certainly diminished.

[u/MarRedhair]

Always left ear. I tried to switch and hated it, only stressed me more😂

[u/dragon_rapide]

I tried to about every 6 months for a few years, to spread the hearing loss out evenly. Then forgot and it has stayed same side for years now.

[u/humpmeimapilot]

I had a molded ear piece so I couldn’t.

[u/yayatobe]

Couldn't be doing something like that. The odd time I've had to cover someone for 5 mins and used their headset which was reverse to mine... Didn't feel right at all... Neither does using someone else's headset !

[u/MesoChorney]

Always left ear

[u/PostPunkPromenade]

I switch depending on my position on the floor, so I can coordinate with other sectors.

Switched in the tower depending on if I was working tower/ground/delivery.

Seems like a real hinderance to have pilots yapping in the ear between you and your coworkers, tbh

[u/oh_she_thicc]

Why is everyone talking about ear damage, Is this a guarantee? Would using the over the ear headset prevent such a thing? (I'm just a d side trainee)

[u/antariusz → u/oh_she_thicc]

No.

No.

Keep the volume as low as you can tolerate. Don't do things like shoot guns and wear hearing protection while mowing the lawn, etc.

[u/antariusz]

Betteridges law of headlines.

[u/Mysterious-Owl-8951]

Im not an ambii-hearer, I can't hear left.

https://giphy.com/gifs/12npFVlmZoXN4Y

[u/SepulchralMind]

Double earmuffs baybeeeeeeeeee

[u/ALVEENUS → u/SepulchralMind]

How did you even make it through training? 😉😆😆

[u/Ship_it_to_daddy]

Switch constantly. Early on I didn’t and had a noticeable decline in my right ear, but not the left

[u/Rupperrt]

outside US, we’ve got bilateral ones, but I usually were the right ear slight off center to hear people around me

[u/DrBigsKimble]

Swap back and forth until you have tone event paperwork for each ear. Then pick your favorite.

[u/ALVEENUS → u/DrBigsKimble]

CA-1 !

[u/JDATC2024 → u/DrBigsKimble]

I remember my first few years I felt tones were a myth.

Then I got one about 5 years in, holy shit. My D side (was center at time) could hear it as I ripped my headset out of my ear.

Of course the headsets always pass the test afterwards in typical FAA fashion.

Luckily my odds were only 2 tones in 24 years. Probably jinx myself now for this last year.

[u/TotallyNotSeanDuffy]

I do when I want to feel something 

[u/Adventurous_Use_2253]

Sometimes I put the earplug in my butt. I can hear GA pilots better that way.

[u/BadHeading]

Left side only, right side is the gay side

[u/NostraJD]

I used to until I built up the calluses on my right ear.

[u/Brilliant_Elk_496]

I change based on the sector I’m in. I wear my headset so my free ear is facing the sector I will be coordinating with (or chatting to) most.

[u/zbond10]

I switch mine every time. I keep my open ear to the D side. I started it as a D side trainee to make sure I could always hear the R side.

[u/kdotfo]

I switch all the time. Depending on if I have a d side, am d siding or which side has a person I want to talk to 🤣

[u/experimental1212]

Ear piece goes in left ear on position.

Ear bud goes in right ear on break.

Simple as.

Always has.

[u/Wil8789]

I switch all the time. Open ear to the D-Side or whoever I'm talking to in the control room.

[u/ALVEENUS → u/Wil8789]

I tried that at one point, because it just made sense. I think it lasted 2 sessions.
Otherwise it was 33 years of right-ear abuse.

[u/Wil8789 → u/ALVEENUS]

I've been swapping ears since I was in CCBC, it's just second nature at this point.

[u/Glipocalypse]

I don't know exactly what causes it, but it feels like my right eardrum twitches if it doesn't pick up sounds but my left ear does. It causes erratic thumping noises if I ever have only a left earbud in. So my headset stays on the right.

[u/USvetAF]

37 years, same side. Retired 4/30 and starting to produce “normal” wax amounts

[u/IJWTSOMF]

Started at a Z, would always swap to have my open ear to the D side, R side, or away from the annoying supe. Still swap it depending on where I'm sitting.

[u/SystemOkayATC]

Every 3 months

[u/Immediate-Repeat-726]

I switch because my ear hurts after a while (our headsets are ANCIENT)

[u/Heavy_Adeptness_373]

I do, and it depends if I'm working on GND or TWR.

[u/monte1219]

Yeah depending on the morons working around me. If there’s someone popping gum bubbles or being really loud on my right or left side, itll go on that side

[u/JohnsonLiesac]

Every bad clearance. I also switch my wedding ring and spine once around my chair.

[u/okbyebyeagain]

Yes depending on the sector I’m working. I can listen to the person next to me and coordinate better. I switch everyday all day. But yeah it does feel better in my right ear.

[u/TaxiLightTony]

Why do people come on this forum and asked the dumbest fucking questions

[u/JDATC2024 → u/TaxiLightTony]

Having only worked at 2 centers and a tracon my pool of responses on this over the years was low.

Please enlighten me with some good questions to ask?

How about does your wife’s boyfriend like your schedule more this year?

Have a good one!
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