How To Hold One's Phone When Conversing

[Buadhai]

Note that I live in Thailand.

Lately my wife and I have noticed an increasing number of persons who hold their phone horizontally (parallel with the ground and facing screen up) and a foot or two (30-60cm) away from their head when having a telephone conversation. This seems to necessitate an increase in both the phone volume and the voice volume. (I have never tried this, so I can't confirm that an increase in volumes is actually necessary, but it seems to be common among practitioners of this rather unusual method.)

We first noticed this about a year ago when staying at a Bangkok hotel that has become popular with South Asians. Quite a large number of our fellow guests carried out telephone conversations in this manner. We found it rather concerning due to the noticeable increase in ambient volume. One morning at breakfast a gentleman ambled though the entire dining room speaking quite loudly in this manner, thus creating a scene that was both amusing and annoying.

One night at about 1:00 AM we were awakened by the incredibly loud sounds of our neighbor having what one might call a lively conversation with what seemed to be his wife. We had to assume that he was using the phone-away-from face method when engaged in this oddly timed chat with his spouse. (Perhaps she was several time zones away. We just don't know.)

As of yet, I haven't worked up the courage to ask anyone who uses their phone this way why they have chosen this method. Is it so they can keep an eye on the screen while speaking, or perhaps they're worried about the sanitary condition of their device and don't want to have it too close to their face?

I'd love to be enlightened in this matter.

Note: For amusement only.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

I’ve noticed similar behavior in USA. Obviously people are using speakerphone, and when using that the speaker on the bottom tends to be louder, so I get the horizontal-in-front-of-the-face position. What I don’t understand is, using speakerphone in public 🧐

As a MFi hearing aid user I guess I don’t have a dog in this fight - my calls are piped directly into my ears and the hearing aid microphones take in my voice, so the phone position is immaterial. That said, my older aids a few years ago didn’t incorporate mic, so for me to be heard on a call the bottom mic on the iPhone was still used. So at that point you might have found me holding my phone in the same way.

 

[I7guy]

I’ve noticed similar behavior in USA. Obviously people are using speakerphone, and when using that the speaker on the bottom tends to be louder, so I get the horizontal-in-front-of-the-face position. What I don’t understand is, using speakerphone in public 🧐

As a MFi hearing aid user I guess I don’t have a dog in this fight - my calls are piped directly into my ears and the hearing aid microphones take in my voice, so the phone position is immaterial. That said, my older aids a few years ago didn’t incorporate mic, so for me to be heard on a call the bottom mic on the iPhone was still used. So at that point you might have found me holding my phone in the same way.

It’s an annoying trend. People don’t place the earpiece against the ear and have to compensate by raising the volume. They shout because of lack of feedback from the ears.

I use AirPods. Much better and dont have to hole a phone.