(Last Updated On: June 28, 2013)Despite of the huge offer of microphones and headphones, choosing a decent product is not always an easy job. There are a lot of factors that can influence your decision and you’ll never be able to say you’ve made the best choice. Without saying that this is a complete list and without pretending to be a specialist, please let me present you some questions that you can ask yourself while choosing a headset for interpreting purposes.

• What should be the frequency range of the speakers? This is very important for music listening purposes, but less important for our interpreting context. A frequency range of 80 – 5000 Hz should be more than enough, as a human voice cannot usually go beyond these limits.
• Wired or wireless headset? I’d say wired for better sound quality and wired for improved comfort and mobility. Also, don’t forget that the range of wireless (especially Bluetooth) receivers and transmitters is drastically reduced when forced to cross walls in your house. Probably, it’s best to have both models and keep the wired headset as a backup device when the battery of the wireless device has drained.
• In-ear, on-the-ear or over-the-ear headphones? That depends on how much you need to isolate yourself from environmental noises and how much comfort you need while wearing them.
• Fixed or retractable microphone? I’d recommend a retractable one, which allows you to adjust the distance to the mouth until you get best results, based on interlocutor’s feedback. In any case, you should avoid the microphones that are incorporated in one of the earcups.
• What other features are nice-to-have? The following are some simple, but very nice features: noise cancellation (expensive, but very useful in noisy environments), muting and volume controls on the cable, adjustable headband, replaceable ear buds.