[Shop-talk] Hearing protection for mowing

[Jim Stone]

Thanks, Karl.  That is good to know, although I will probably restrict use of my ear buds this way, simply due to their cost.  I’ve ruined conventional earphones while working and don’t want to risk damage to the expensive QC20’s, especially when inexpensive solutions are available.

> On May 29, 2019, at 7:24 PM, Karl Vacek <stearman809 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> ANR - Active Noise Reduction - indeed does protect hearing.  The units vary in sophistication, but all essentially have a microphone in each earcup that "listens" to the sound inside.  The circuitry of course knows what it's putting out (assuming this is an actual audio headset and not just a hearing protector) and ignores that.  It generates an opposite-phase sound wave to whatever it "hears" as noise, and thus the noise and the ANR signal cancel each other.  Your ear received less sound pressure.
> 
> I have a pair of Peltor muffs for shooting with microphones in front so that you can speak with someone and still be ready when a shot goes off. They're good, but for mowing the lawn I still turn off the sound from the microphones and they're more quiet.
> 
> I also have aftermarket ANR kits I installed in several of my aviation headsets and they're far more effective even for mowing.  But the price difference is huge.  The Peltor ANR muffs were about $50, while the ANR kits I put in my David Clark headsets cost over $100, on top of a few hundred dollars for the headsets themselves.
> 
> David Clark sells headsets with ANR from the factory, but they're over $500, and Bose aviation headsets are about $1,000.  Ear plugs are cheaper if they're satisfactory.
> 
> On May 29, 2019 5:39:42 PM Jim Stone via Shop-talk <shop-talk at autox.team.net> wrote:
> 
>> "While I'd love to have a pair of Bose Quiet Comfort 20…”
>> 
>> Just for what its worth, I am on my third set of the Bose QC20’s and could not live without them.  They work incredibly well, but I don’t know if they qualify as hearing protection.  As I understand it, they work by generating anti-noise: the opposite wave length of the noise coming in.  While what you can hear is greatly diminished - they are awesome on airplanes and in hotels with noisy HVAC systems - I wonder if they actually prevent hearing damage.   It would be nice to know if they do qualify, or if noise+anti-noise is still damaging to the ears, even if you can’t actually perceive it.  Does anyone here know?  
>> 
>> 
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