We’ve heard in recent weeks that iPhones make men more attractive to women and that under 25’s like to text during sex and now more news from the strange depths of the mobile phone industry – scientists have figured out why other people’s mobile phone conversations are annoying.

The journal Psychological Science claims that the reason we get so annoyed is because we can only hear half the conversation. It’s all in the way the mind works you see.

According to the study we get irritated by listening to one side of a conversation because we have less control at diverting our attention away from one side of a conversation than when we are listening to a complete one.

The study said: “Since halfalogues really are more distracting and you can’t tune them out, this could explain why people are irritated,” said Lauren Emberson, the co-author of the study.

Researchers based at Cornell University ran a sequence of tests designed to monitor people’s reactions to auditory stimuli, including complete silence, a monologue, a two-person conversation and a ‘halfalogue’ where you can only hear one side of the conversation.

Results showed that more mistakes were made during the tests when listening to the halflogue.

So there you go folks… not that it really matters, but next time you find yourself really annoyed by the person on the bus’s mobile chat just imagine the other persons responses and calm the angry monster inside!