20yrs of yearly mri's, man I should be glowing by now :D. In the beginning they always used the head cage thing, but for the past so many years no head cage, just told to lay very still. Some have ear phones with music and some just give you earplugs. Ive never done an open mri. I am clostrophobic (sp?) so they always put a little dry washrag over my eyes so I dont see anything. MRI's are really a breeze, they are loud but no pain. My kind of test. I do have a really hard time staying in one position for so long it causes me alot of pain, so they give me alittle atavan to help relax me so I can stay still for the test.