Electronic Ear Defenders.......

[Big Brother]

...how do they work?

 

Steve

 

 

SE7EN-UP!

The difference between ignorance and apathy? I don't know, and I couldn't care less!

 

[Roger Ford]

Electronic noise cancellation - just like the Bose headphones de rigeur for all international jetsetters. Basically it measures the incoming sound, and emits just the right frequency and amplitude that the peaks and troughs of the generated sound cancel out the peaks and troughs of the incoming sound. If it was perfect, you wouldn't hear a thing.

 

Of course since it's all electronic it's easy enough to allow certain frequencies (eg those most common in speech) through.

[Big Brother]

Thanks Roger, they (excuse the pun) sound quite interesting

 

 

Has anyone here got any experience of using them in a 7?

Would they work for constant type (motorway) wind noise?

 

Steve

 

 

SE7EN-UP!

The difference between ignorance and apathy? I don't know, and I couldn't care less!

 

[shn7]

Last night for the first time I tried a cheap pair that I bought on ebay.

 

As others have said wrt the cheap ones. Don't bother. No noticeable benefit whatsoever . Still I was warned 😳.

 

No idea if the expensive ones like the Bose are any better for blatting.

 

Steve.

Not forgetting Percy the Polar Bear

[Big Brother]

Thanks all - I think I'll settle for my RS standard ear defenders

 

Steve

 

 

SE7EN-UP!

The difference between ignorance and apathy? I don't know, and I couldn't care less!

 

[CageyH]

Have a look at Shure E2c's for an in ear solution.

Pretty good, bit not perfect. Use noise isolation rather cancelling (Basically an ear plug) with a built in speaker.

[neil.cavanagh]

I've used my Bose anti-noise headsets in the 7 a few times... they were very good, apart from picking up some electrical interferance. It must have been some RF as at certain revs under full throttle you got some pretty loud interference coming through....

[susser]

I would think that they are very good at cancelling some noises, ie machinery hum and the like. The way they work is to analyse the sound and produce a sound exactly opposite, as Roger said. When I've tried them I found that they take a little while to get the sound cancelled, due to the analysing time, I suspect. I seems that the reason that speech is not impeded is because the speech is not analysed as a repeatable pattern, and so the set can't produce an opposite.

So, to move it on a bit and prevent any prevaricating around the bush (As wallace said);

Wind noise is caused by vortices being formed and collapsing/shedding etc. The sound is about as random as that of speech (as far as the set is concerned).

Therefore, to cut a long story short; I wouldn't expect them to work well on wind noise.

 

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Over

[Unclefester]

*arrowup*Exactly! Too complex a sound for the things to get to grips with.... *thumbdown*

 

NICE PLATE!!!

😬 😬here *eek*

[neil.cavanagh]

nice theory guys... but my Bose ones worked lovely in the Seven (apart from the electronic RF interference problem)... turn them on and it all goes nice and quiet.

[susser]

But what about speech Niel; 🤔

I would expect them to cancell engine and trans noise without a problem.

 

[neil.cavanagh]

they cut speech pretty well... in fact I should think the 'cabin crew' on AA must have hated the introduction of them as I can't hear a word they are saying when I have them on!

[neil.cavanagh]

basically... cheap ones don't work. You have to pay to get ones that do.

 

The BOSE ones are great, but run £2-300.

 

At which point normal good quality ear defenders are almost as good, and cheaper.

[philwaters]

"At which point normal good quality ear defenders are almost as good, and cheaper"

Yes, but you can't play music on the holiday flight 😬

 

I've got some Sony noise cancelling (about £45 through staff sales) and they work well on planes up to a certain level. I think they have a limit to how much anti-noise they produce and so you probably loose about 50% on a plane. Considering all my flights are short hops around Europe this was acceptable and I couldn't justify the Bose. They certainly make it possible to hear the walkman at a sensible volume and actually know what song it is.

 

Work well in the office too at cutting out all the background noise distractions and you can still see the important ones

 

Phil Waters

[Don Cook]

I repaired a set for a mate of mine, very cheap ones, they didn’t analyse anything they simply had two microphones located on the outside of each earphone and fed back the inverse of the microphone signal to the earphone. There was a gain control in the form of a potentiometer to increase / decrease cancellation. They actually worked quite well on all types of noise.

[susser]

'spose they would. They aren't trying to be "smart"

[Roger Ford]

I don't think the theory about random noise is correct. They work great in a plane, and most of the noise there is random white noise from wind and the like. They generally do a much better job with some frequencies than others.

 

There's plenty for sale from the usual manufacturers - Sony, Panasonic etc, for very much less than the Bose ones. Vary from about £30 to £100. My cheapo £40 Panasonics work well in a plane, haven't tried them in the Seven - I use earplugs or my Sony in-ear headphones (like the Sure ones but very much cheaper, and not as good).