Speaking up for operators
According to James Futter, technology manager at Sennheiser South Africa, call centre agents are frequently exposed to harsh acoustic bursts that, over time, can damage their hearing.
“Call centre agents are at risk from injury to their hearing if they aren’t equipped with special headsets,” he said. “Most people spend a relatively short period of time on the phone while at work.
“But call centre agents are constantly interacting with people making incoming calls. People who phone call centres are often angry or irritable and they tend to shout or raise their voices. Outright acts of aggression occur, too.
“Someone who is angry with the company they are calling, for instance, may blow a whistle into the phone, which can seriously damage the listener’s hearing.”
Futter said cheap headsets lowered the voice quality of a call and were a false economy as they are the primary interface between the company and the customer.
“An uncomfortable agent will not perform optimally. A well-crafted headset will also help damp down loud noises without distorting the quality of the call.
“The European Union has taken the headset issue very seriously and in February 2006 issued a directive specifying how headsets should perform. No such legislation exists in South Africa, but call centre operators need to take into account the health considerations of the agents who work there,” he said.
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