Re: the best Active *Noise* Reduction technology existing
- From: "BoomerM3" <pblock95@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 7 Mar 2006 13:46:12 -0800
I just bought 8 ear plugs from Walmart for under $3.00. They have a
Noise Reduction Rating of 32 decibels. This makes them slightly better
than the David Clark headset mentioned by another poster.
The sporting goods department of the same store had more expensive ear
plugs designed for hunters. Their NRR was more than 60 db.
I'm not an engineer - just a traveller looking for some quiet.
Scott Dorsey wrote:
<mamadu@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I am trying to decide on an Active Noise Reduction (ANR) headset or
earplugs. I have looked at the Sony, Bose, Shure and other models, but
almost all reviews/comments mix two very different issues: noise
reduction and sound quality.
Why not use both at the same time? It is fairly standard practice to use
foam plugs underneath active ear protection devices.
In my case, I have no interest whatsoever in sound quality, what I am
looking for is the absolute best noise reduction possible. I have
tried the Bose Quiet Comfort II, and they appear extremeny effective,
but only in the middle-low frequency range. Also, I have a feeling
that ANR earplugs might be more effective.
For the most part, none of the active noise reduction systems work much
above 1 KHz or so.
My feeling is the Sennheiser pilot headsets are definitely better in an open
cockpit plane (lots of repetitive impulse noise) than the Bose pilot ones.
The consumer (open ear) ones are all pretty lousy.
Various manufacters claims various degrees of noise reduction. As for
Bose, they do not even release their technical specs (although would it
not be possible for any lab to measure them across a frequency range
and publish the results?).
That's the way Bose is. Bose products are 90% marketing, and 10% technology.
Some of them (like the headsets) work okay, just at much higher cost than
they should. If you look at the over-ear Bose sets for pilots, though,
they will have some minimal specifications on the data sheet.
Recently I met a guy who was working in the US Navy on the deck of
aircraft carriers. He said that the headsets they had cancelled out
everything, that nothing could be heared at all when he was wearing
them. Since this hardly constitutes a secret technology, is it known
who designs these headsets for the US Navy? Is this technology used
for the civilian market by some manufacturer?
These are over-ear earcup devices. The high frequencies are blocked out
mechanically, the low frequencies are blocked out with active noise
cancellation. You can then use foam earplugs underneath them for additional
high frequency cancellation.
This is typical of the David Clark ground support sets:
http://www.davidclark.com/HeadsetPgs/h3530.htm
You'll notice that the David Clark website gives actual measured attenuation
numbers across the band, rather than made-up crap or single-frequency
marketing numbers like Bose shows.
Can anyone give me some pointers as to how I could go about finding the
best ANR headset/earbuds out there?
Your deck crew guy is probably issued a set of David Clarks. Sennheiser
also makes some that are okay.
The big question is what kind of noise you're trying to block out. If
you're sitting in a 747 or a Stearman, the noise patterns are very different.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
.
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