Interface Headset

File:InterfaceHeadsetExample.jpg

The three Eva pilots with each of their interface headsets; note that Rei has taken hers off and is holding the tiara

An Interface Headset is a small device worn on an Evangelion pilot's head which serves to link with the cranial nerves of the pilot with the Eva's mind, allowing the pilot to synch with the Eva.

Unlike a plug suit, an interface headset appears absolutely necessary to pilot an Eva. In emergencies pilots have been set into the Eva without any plug suit, but an Interface Headset has always been worn by the pilot, the simulation plug tests in Episode 13 being an exception. However, it is concievable that a pilot in an LCL-filled entry plug could synch with an Eva without an interface headset (At a reduced synch rate).

Interface headsets give the appearance of being two small plastic devices placed on top of the head, one on either side. The interface headset is actually one object: a thin wire "tiara" links the two larger pieces atop the head. The wire section is nestled beneath the pilot's hair and thus always obscured from view, making it appear as if the headset is comprised of two separate devices placed on top of the head.

It apparently doesn't matter what part of the head the devices on the Interface Headset are worn: Rei and Shinji's are worn near the front of their head, but Asuka apparently wears the tiara backwards, so that the plastic devices on it are near the back of her head, where she has effectively incorporated them into her everyday hairstyle.

Asuka Langley Soryu near-constantly wears her Interface Headset, at home and while at school, because she is proud of her status as an Eva pilot and wants the whole world to know that she pilots an Evangelion.

Shinji Ikari doesn't wear an Interface Headset in End of Evangelion, but it would probably have been useless since the Eva was in control of itself and Shinji was effectively a passenger in the entry plug.

Notes

• Exactly what Interface Headsets are and how they function is never explicitly elaborated upon on-screen, but is from Gainax-released background material, such as the Red Cross Book.
• Eva pilots are never seen putting on or taking off Interface Headsets during the entire series. The wire tiara which actually connects the two larger pieces and supports them in place on top of the head is hidden under their hair when worn and is only on-screen once, briefly seen floating among the contents of the Entry Plug in Episode 20 and otherwise only in behind-the-scenes production sketches. This has resulted in many fans assuming that the two plastic pieces clearly visible atop the head are somehow just "stuck" on the head, either with adhesive, by being attached like a hairclip, etc. when actually the entire thing is a single headset. As these objects were never formally named on-screen, fans frequently refer to them as "A¹⁰ nerve clips", because the description of them in the Red Cross Book says that they interact with the A¹⁰ nerve. However, script production notes (released with the Renewal of Evangelion DVDs) clearly and repeatedly refer to the object as an "Interface Headset".