GPO telephone headsets

[Hermitcrab]

The telephone headset pictured had an amazingly long life, first introduced in the 1950's and used by the majority of GPO/BT operators until about 1987.

However, in the early 1980's a new type of headset was developed called the Auralite which was in use by a minority of BT operators, this had no headband and used an earpiece which went into the operator's ear canal. It wasn't as popular as you might have thought, being considered unhygienic and I knew of at least one operator who went back to using the traditional headset out of choice!

I wonder if any Auralites are still in use. As for the headset in the picture, that is now certainly consigned to history and was admittedly rather cumbersome.

[Hermitcrab]

And here is a picture of the Auralite in all its glory, it came with a gigantic coiled cord and an operator wearing one of these could probably walk a significant length of the exchange room without taking their headset off!

[Sparks]

An amplified electret microphone in the Auralite would have a similar output to the carbon microphone in the old GPO headset. Probably higher quality audio too. Civil aircraft cockpit headsets work on much the same basis.

[Hermitcrab]

Originally Posted by Sparks

An amplified electret microphone in the Auralite would have a similar output to the carbon microphone in the old GPO headset. Probably higher quality audio too. Civil aircraft cockpit headsets work on much the same basis.

Operators who used Auralite headsets found them indeed to be much better and clearer than the old type which used a carbon granule unit. I remember seeing the old type headsets in use by other organisations as well as BT on television well into the 1980s, but I don't think you would have seen any in use after around 1987.

[Hermitcrab]

Before and possibly during the 1950s the GPO headset in use was called the head-and-breast set and is pictured. I have never seen one in use as I am not that old! The picture shows an operator at Potters Bar exchange in 1947.

[Dave Moll]

The transmitter in those head-and-breast-sets uses the same inset as a bakelite 164 handset.

[Richard_FM]

Originally Posted by Hermitcrab

The telephone headset pictured had an amazingly long life, first introduced in the 1950's and used by the majority of GPO/BT operators until about 1987.

However, in the early 1980's a new type of headset was developed called the Auralite which was in use by a minority of BT operators, this had no headband and used an earpiece which went into the operator's ear canal. It wasn't as popular as you might have thought, being considered unhygienic and I knew of at least one operator who went back to using the traditional headset out of choice!

I wonder if any Auralites are still in use. As for the headset in the picture, that is now certainly consigned to history and was admittedly rather cumbersome.

The horns on these would have seemed a little quaint by the 1960s.

I heard GPO engineers often had to solder in an extra resistor into the earphone as operators complained that they were too loud.

[Hermitcrab]

Originally Posted by Hermitcrab

And here is a picture of the Auralite in all its glory, it came with a gigantic coiled cord and an operator wearing one of these could probably walk a significant length of the exchange room without taking their headset off!

You could not buy an Auralite headset by walking into a phone shop: they were British Telecom branded and BT had the monopoly on them and their sale was restricted, so effectively you would have to be one of the operators who was supplied with them, I believe that some places such as hotels used these on their switchboards as well as some of BT's own operators. I did hear though that they cost in real terms over £100 each!

[Sparks]

Originally Posted by Hermitcrab

You could not buy an Auralite headset by walking into a phone shop: they were British Telecom branded and BT had the monopoly on them and their sale was restricted, so effectively you would have to be one of the operators who was supplied with them, I believe that some places such as hotels used these on their switchboards as well as some of BT's own operators. I did hear though that they cost in real terms over £100 each!

The daft thing is that the Auralite is likely to have been a badge-engineered Plantronics unit. Could have been obtained from RS or Farnell.

[Simondm]

I immediately thought "Plantronics" too. The microphone tube is exactly the same, allthough the earpiece black moulding overall is somewhat different to the model I used in the 1990s. The proper Plantronic set also has a rather nice hermaphroditic connector for the cable, although it's a pain as I suspect you need special tooling for it - I haven't ever successfully rewired one.

[AD360 Rob]

Originally Posted by Hermitcrab

Before and possibly during the 1950s the GPO headset in use was called the head-and-breast set and is pictured. I have never seen one in use as I am not that old! The picture shows an operator at Potters Bar exchange in 1947.

Years ago I worked in a theatre in Tewkesbury that used these headsets for their in house talkback system (communication between lighting, stage, followspot operators etc) it was less than successful as ambient sound from the auditorium was generally much louder than what was in the earpiece. Nice use of old technology though

[nutteronthebus]

I had a few of the Auralite headsets as a PABX eng for BT gave 1 to my son when he started in a call center for British Gas other opp were jealous as they as poor copy's

[OscarFoxtrot]

Originally Posted by Hermitcrab

You could not buy an Auralite headset by walking into a phone shop: they were British Telecom branded and BT had the monopoly on them and their sale was restricted, so effectively you would have to be one of the operators who was supplied with them,

Also before phones had 'modular' handset cords, you had to buy a special phone with a headset jack to use a headset. IIRC a Plantronics phone was about £100 and another £100 for the headset.

[Restoration73]

There was a similar looking version with twin earpieces to that shown in #1 made by
Coles and widely used in broadcasting - a version with a boom mic was also made.