closely associated with the subject potentially preventing the article from being verifiable and neutral . please help improve it by replacing them with more appropriate citations to reliable independent third party sources . april 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message plantronics inc. type public traded as nyse plt industry consumer electronics founded 1961 headquarters santa cruz california key people joe burton president and ceo products corded and bluetooth headsets ; audio products for business and consumers revenue 865 million fiscal 2015 1 number of employees over 3 000 2015 1 website www.plantronics.com plantronics is an electronics company producing audio communications equipment for business and consumers . its products support unified communications mobile use gaming and music . plantronics is a publicly traded company nyse plt headquartered in santa cruz california . contents 1 history 2 spencomm and nasa 3 ms 50 4 starset 5 wireless products 5.1 wireless office headsets 5.2 mobile and bluetooth mobile headsets 6 computer and gaming headsets 7 corporate expansion and acquisitions 7.1 clarity 7.2 altec lansing 7.3 volume logic 7.4 2005 to present 8 gallery 9 references 10 further reading 11 external links history edit early plantronics headset in the early 1960s airline headsets were so large and cumbersome that many pilots had switched back to the use of handheld microphones for communications . the speed and complexity of jet airliners caused a need for the introduction of small lightweight headsets into the cockpit . in 1961 united airlines solicited new designs from anyone who was interested . courtney graham a united airlines pilot was one of the many who thought the heavy headsets should be replaced by something lighter . he collaborated with his pilot friend keith larkin to create a small functional design which was robust enough to pass airlines standards . larkin had been working for a small company called plane aids a japanese import company which offered spectacles and sunglasses that contained transistor radios in their temple pieces . 2 the final design incorporating two small hearing aid style transducers attached to a headband was submitted to united airline approval . ual s approval of the innovative design caused graham and larkin to incorporate as pacific plantronics now called plantronics inc. on may 18 1961 . they introduced the first lightweight communications headset the ms 50 to the commercial marketplace in 1962 . in the mid 1960s the federal aviation agency selected plantronics as the sole supplier of headsets for air traffic controllers and thereafter was selected to supply headsets to the operators of the bell telephone company . spencomm and nasa edit in 1961 nasa astronaut wally schirra contacted courtney graham a fellow pilot to discuss creating a design for a small lightweight headset to be used in the mercury spacecraft . pacific plantronics assembled its space environmental communications spencomm division to begin working on a reliable solution . spencomm personnel traveled to nasa s manned spacecraft center now johnson space center and kennedy space center to meet with and get design feedback from schirra and several other astronauts including gordon cooper . 2 neil armstrong with plantronics headset together spencomm and nasa spent only 11 days to create a working microphone design for space communications and schirra was the first to use the new communication technology during the mercury atlas 8 mission . 2 significant redundancy was built into these headsets as each microphone circuit had two transducers and each receiver had 5 transducers in addition the headsets were used in pairs . the use of these spencomm nasa headsets in astronaut space suits continued through the remainder of the mercury program the apollo program and on to this day . the words spoken by u.s. astronaut neil armstrong as he stepped on the moon were transmitted through a plantronics headset . 3 ms 50 edit following the pacific plantronics partnership with nasa in the space program the ms 50 headset gained recognition in the communication marketplace . faa western electric and companies with telephone call centers adapted the ms 50 as a replacement for existing headsets . on may 18 1965 u.s. pat . no. 3 184 556 was issued to w. k. larkin for a miniaturized headset wherein a hearing aid size microphone transducer and a similarly miniaturized transducer are placed in a capsule mounted near the user s ear ; speech is conducted to the microphone via an acoustic tube positioned near the user s mouth while incoming communications emanating from the receiver are conducted to the user s ear via a second acoustic tube . 4 the ms 50 was known commonly as a larkin type headset and it could be used with either a light headband or the temple bar of an eyeglass frame as the supporting member for the transducer housing . in addition users found that if a longer ear tube on the ms 50 the headband could hang around the user s neck . with this discovery it became possible to rapidly adjust the headset to any of six different positions increasing comfort for long term wear . the six positions are on eyeglasses to the wearer s left or right on headband to the left or right and around the neck to the left or right . when the longer tube is on a headset worn on the headband in the traditional location excess tube may be coiled around the headset support pad on the appropriate side or left free and slack . plantronics starset patent drawing showing proposed use of invention . starset edit in 1970 ken hutchings an engineer who had joined pacific plantronics patented a device which was marketed as the starset . united states patent 3548118 describes a self supporting headset having a housing which accommodates a receiver and microphone . a flexible acoustic tube adapted to communicate between the auditory canal of the ear of the user and the receiver secured to the bottom of the housing and an adjustable acoustic tube secured to the top of the housing with its distal end adapted to be disposed adjacent to the mouth of the user to transmit sound to the microphone . 5 wireless products edit plantronics office headset on its charger in the 1980s plantronics created a line of cordless products using infrared technology . though the technology utilized was the same one being used by television remote controls the link did not require a federal communications commission fcc telecommunications approval . one of the first products used the infrared beam to create a communications link between a small transmitter and a base unit which was connected to the telephone network . this product was the first echo free speakerphone for use in conference rooms . the small transmitter could be handheld or clipped to clothing to ensure a good pickup of the speaker s voice . wireless office headsets edit in 2003 plantronics introduced the cs50 wireless headset for use on office phones . since that time plantronics has manufactured wireless headsets including the cs70n 6 cs500 series and savi 700 series . in recent years there has also been strong focus on unified communications headsets and speakers . 7 mobile and bluetooth mobile headsets edit plantronics manufactures mobile headsets including a line of bluetooth headsets for mobile phones . computer and gaming headsets edit plantronics manufactures headsets for pc audio and online and console gaming via its gamecom and . audio labels . plantronics entered the multimedia headset market in 1999 with the release of the hs1 and the dsp 500 headsets the latter featuring a built in digital signal processing card . in 2002 plantronics and microsoft created the xbox 360 wireless headset the first headset to enable voice communication with xbox live . 8 the company created a special headset for the xbox as a tie in with the videogame halo 2 in 2004 . corporate expansion and acquisitions edit plantronics has expanded into other segments of the audio equipment market through acquisitions . clarity edit in 1986 plantronics acquired walker equipment ringgold georgia a manufacturer of amplified handsets and telephones . the clarity products were created to enhance telephone usability for those with hearing impairment . walker later acquired ameriphone in 2002 and became walker ameriphone before changing its name to clarity ; clarity is now a us supplier of amplified telephones . in february 2015 plantronics released the clarity 340 handset style phone for uc communications . 7 altec lansing edit in 2005 plantronics acquired computer speaker manufacturer altec lansing for approximately 166 million . 9 in spite of a corporate makeover 10 the brand continued to struggle and was acquired by profit equity in october 2009 for approximately 18 million dollars . 11 volume logic edit plantronics later acquired octiv inc. in march 2005 as one of its brands and renamed it as the volume logic division . octive produced an audio toolset for creating 5.1 surround sound soundtracks . although the volume logic series of applications have since been discontinued the underlying technology has been adapted for use in plantronics telephony products . 2005 to present edit in october 2016 long time chief executive s. kenneth kannappan retired and was replaced by joe burton who had joined in 2011 . 12 gallery edit nasa astronaut neil armstrong wearing snoopy cap with plantronics spencom headset prior to his apollo 11 lunar landing in 1969 . nasa astronaut tom stafford wearing snoopy cap with plantronics spencom headset in 1975 apollo soyuz mission plantronics spencom headsets in use by nasa astronauts evans and cernan both wearing snoopy caps aboard the apollo 17 spacecraft . references edit a b plantronics inc. company profile from hoover s . hoovers.com . retrieved 2015 07 23 . a b c nasa spinoff 2005 . sti.nasa.gov . retrieved 2015 07 23 . leclaire sarah 8 january 2015 . new spacewalk exhibit opens at national air and space museum . airspacemag.com . air & space smithsonian . retrieved 25 february 2016 . larkin patents ms 50 . freepatentsonline.com . retrieved 2015 07 23 . self supporting headset pdf . freepatentsonline.com . retrieved 2015 07 23 . plantronics . plantronics cs70n professional wireless headset system plantronics . plantronics.com . a b plantronics new professional audio solutions keep noise distractions at bay and help people focus on work plantronics online newsroom . newsroom.plantronics.com . 2015 02 05 . retrieved 2015 07 23 . 1 archived april 14 2015 at the wayback machine . 2 archived february 10 2006 at the wayback machine . roundup altec lansing reveals new logo audio products . cnet . cbs interactive . prophet equity buying altec lansing . pe hub . retrieved 2015 07 23 . plantronics ceo ken kannappan to retire . press release . august 2 2016 . retrieved october 3 2016 . further reading edit mirchandani v. ; benioff m. 2010 . chapter 8 . the new polymath profiles in compound technology innovations . wiley professional advisory services . john wiley & sons . pp. 107 112 . isbn 978 0 470 76845 7 . retrieved june 26 2016 . alexander steve october 7 1996 . plantronics eases growing pains with oracle applications . infoworld . retrieved 26 june 2016 . raulerson p. ; malraison j.c. ; leboyer a. 2009 . building routes to customers proven strategies for profitable growth . business and economics . springer new york . pp. 9 11 . isbn 978 0 387 79951 3 . plunkett j.w. 2008 . plunkett s wireless wi fi rfid & cellular industry almanac . plunkett s wireless wi fi rfid & cellular industry almanac . plunkett research limited . p. 320 . isbn 978 1 59392 117 0 . retrieved june 26 2016 . van dam n. ; marcus j. 2012 . organization and management an international approach . library of religious beliefs and practices . taylor & francis . p. 122 . isbn 978 1 136 64648 5 . retrieved june 26 2016 .