Telephone-listening behavior was surveyed by questionnaire in 294 airline reservations agents to discover whether there is a preference for listening with the right ear. All of the subjects wore headsets as was their normal practice at work, thereby leaving both hands free for other activities so data were minimally biased by hand preference. Findings showed no evidence of a right-ear preference. Instead a left-ear preference was reported in 59% of the group—a finding that was statistically significant at the .001 level of confidence. Persons listening with the left ear had more experience using headsets to listen on the telephone than persons listening with the right ear.
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