Why don't hands-free sets output in both ears?
 

I've always wondered this. Seems it'd be nifty (and a lot easier in some certain circumstances) to hear a cell phone conversation in both ears, rather than having to filter out external noise. My wife has an earbud set that has jacks for both phone and music player, but when you use the phone, only one earbud has sound coming through it.

Is it for a technical reason? Or is it for safety, i.e. you're not supposed to wear headphones in the car because you need to be aware of your surroundings?

I have feeling this is nothing more then monaural vs stereo sound.

Music is generally stereo in nature, where a phone call is monaural.

I've got a hybrid hands free head set that is similar to Jess'...one ear for phone, both ears for tunes.

Interesting question. I've never really thought of my setup as difficient, but now that you mention it...

In fact, my old man has a phone only, two ear headset, that has the incoming phoncon come into both ears....so it's definately possible.

-bear

I would think it would have more to do with the fact that most people use their handsfree sets while driving, and in most states, using headphones in both ears (or period) is illegal while operating a motor vehicle. However, handsfree sets probably skirt around this issue by only using one ear for sound.

:)

While legality may or may not play a role, for the combo headsets it's just not technically feasible to put the monaural sound coming out of a phone through both ear buds.

Here we have a picture of a mini plug (actually it's full size, but it'll work for out purposes).

<img src=http://www.bonnersmusic.co.uk/acatalog/AC-PMSJFS.jpg height ="10%" width="10%">

Note the two black bands. The metal parts on the end of the plug and in between the black bands are where the connection is made. Monaural plugs, such as the ones used specifically for phone headsets, only have one band. That's because there's only one connection in a monaural headset, whereas there's two in a stereo headset, one to carry the left channel and one to carry the right. Thus when you plug a stereo plug into a monaural jack (such as the one on your cell phone) only one connection is made and only one ear bud gets sound. It is possible to add an inline switch that only goes through one channel in one position and goes through both in the other, but I've never seen a headset like that out of the factory and it'd be more trouble than it's worth to DIY one.

call center people can get headsets that are for both ears... and that's mono so the case for it being "stereo" only is bumk.

I think you're right. I just picked up a new headset for my TREO that DOES send the voice to both earbuds. I think the original was defective, as it were.

-bear