Noise, hearing, helmets

[Brian]

A year or so ago, at the Broken Hill field days I had a pair of silicon earlugs made, silicon is injected into the ear and you finish up with great hearing protection for $55 that doesnt hurt the ears at all, even after 10 hours with them in !!One thing wrong with them is that they are so efficient at keeping noise out that I had to have the UHF radio turned up to flat chat to hear anyone talk so its been a bit of a struggle in the hearing department. At the time I got the earlpugs, it was mentioned they had some sort of stuff to hook up to the earplugs to make hearing better but I wanted to make sure the earlpugs were going to do the job before I spent any more money!Anyway, about a month ago I sent my earlugs down to the maker and had wires hooked up to the earplugs, cost $ 145 or so, they plug directly into the back of the UHF external speaker plug and presto !!! with volume just cracked, I can hear perfectly[][][8D], even with just one earplug working as the lead is stereo and UHF's are mono. The UHF can be adapted to stereo if you want.I cant be more happy with the set up, very simple, cost effective, brilliant. So good to be able to hear so well!! I'm now going to get a MP3 player and aviation radio installed so I can have some music and entertainment when things are quiet in the air !!Earmould Australia is the name and the phone number is 0882515285. Ring today, dont put it off a day longer if you have a helmet with speakers and use earplugs.Get two pairs of earplugs done cause I'm going to get another set when I get the chance as I will use them around the farm and anywhere where noise is a factor !!! They come in a range of colours as well.Ps I'm not earning any commision []Brian

[Brian]

Cant believe I havent had any feedback on the earmoulds as they are Aussie and work 100% which is a big statement.I tried all sorts of earplugs but none come close to this setup.Brian

[birdy]

Been thinkn bout it Brian, mebe one day, but the ones i use now work orright.[don't like the idea of squertn anything in me ears, mite interfear with the little bean floatn round between um.]Ignorance is bliss............but only till you realise you were.You can always get the answer you want, if you ask enough experts.

[Michael]

Great post Brian. I'm sure a lot of us have taken notice.Michael.

[Greg Mitchell]

G'Day Brian,I had a call from Geoff Blackberry during the week, he has had ongoing radio/hearing probs and I mentioned your post to him. He does not use the forum so I passed on the telephone number.Appreciated.Mitchwww.thebutterflyllc.com

[asra]

I've also passed on a print of this item to a local member with hearing problems in flight. Plus a printout of Earmold's internet site.

[NiqueNaque]

Brian,Thanks for making this post, hearing protection is vital and I can tell anyone from my own bad experiences that is so.This is a post to everyone who flies or is exposed to any loud noises, including music and driving cars, trucks and work vans (You'd be surprised how bad vehicles are in noise terms).I suffer from complete deafness in my left ear, 60% part due to my father's habit of clipping me over the left ear for the slightest mischief and the balance from working in the building industry, I still hate his guts for doing it so if you think you should punish your children this way forget it, you will die lonely. I'll attribute this knowledge to the hearing tests I had before I was employed.Hearing loss is an embarrassment I would have loved to be able to avoid, try going to a party and understanding anyone or being in a room and having any more than one person talking, it gets confusing. It only has one dubious benefit, when I need to go to sleep in a noisy environment it is not an issue because I can't hear anything other than an FA-18 screaming in my ear, but I'm used to that and have learned to ignore it. If you have occassion to talk to me and it appears I'm ignoring you, you should know that I am not, I am deaf.Just so people know, constant noise levels over 80dB 'A' will cause hearing loss, permanent hearing loss, and / or ringing in the ears as I have, or tinnitus. If the volume or sound pressure level is irritating to you, it will damage your hearing, act to protect it.As to the noise levels I tested my gyro when it was a EA 81 subaru direct drive and it generated 120dB at the pilots seat. With a redrive it is down to 100, at 10m it is down to 85. A 503 rotax is equally noisy, 100 dB at 5m, so two strokes are as bad if not worse. Even if you wear a helmet the noise levels within the helmet from the wind can be more than 80 dB. Check the noise attenuation charts for your hearing protection, this is important. I use Peltor H9 earmuffs, they attenuate to 35 dB, which as I understand it cuts the noise levels down by 35 dB and turns a deafening 105 dB into a cruisey 70, or near talking volume. If you don't have enough attenuation then you may still be suffering 80+ dB at your ear, and thus losing your hearing, guard it by making sure the attenuation figures for your hearing protection drop the spl to less than 80.It is so worth doing - protecting your hearing, please do.Cheers,Nick.

[Brian]

Thanks Nick, Its rare to be able to have tried something that actually works far far better than its supposed to and I was having to endure quite of bit of pain from constant noise and also the pressure even foam earplugs were generating. Its amazing how sensative the ear region can be In my case with two speakers built into the helmet [A Rosco set up]and with the foam earlugs, I was expereincing pain after a days flying and it made work dificult. After getting the silicon earlugs [Earmoulds] done, the noise level dropped considerably, in fact with the earmoulds in it is very dificult to hear a person talk to you even while standing close directly in front of you, and then with the helmet on there is even less noise BUT trouble was that I had to have the UHF volume turned right to maximium to hear anything. This in turn was causing distortion and in turn, was making it even more dificult for me to hear[ I do also have ringing in the ears] Probably partly due to having the volume on max !!The earmoulds are drilled and a small diameter clear plastic tube is inserted, this plastic pipe is coiled like an airhose to allow for movement,this attaches to the rest of the unit which is just a adapter into which the 2 clear plastic tubes come into and out of comes the lead whicj goes down into the speaker socket of your UHF or walkman or whatever. Where the actual speakers are, I dont know but I now only have to have the volume on the lowest possible setting to hear loudly and clearly while at near full noise in the gyro.Anyone not using earprotection in a gyro is playing with fire and probably certain deafness. The beauty with these Earmoulds is that they are more than usefull in any situation where noise is a problem and you dont get the pressure around the ears like you do with conventional ear muffs and you can plug in the walkman or whatever you like and hear perfectly !!Birdy, The process is painless and only takes 5 minutes and nothing is left in the ear or comes out [thats not supposed to] I had them done in May last year and have probably used them for over 350/400 hours and have done apprx 100 hours since having the speaker fitted to the earmoulds.Have also been using a throat mike for the last 100 hours, some like the results and others not so keen.The ones that do like the results of the throat mike are the ground crew who now dont hear any motor or wind noise, the downside is that the throat mike has to be in the right spot or else its useless !!! Apparently, I sound like I slur my words a little. I have heard my wife using the same set up and she sounded just fine but she wasnt airborne iether plus she has a higher pitched voice and I tend to mumble a little which probably doesnt help The minsus side to me is that the throat mike tends to slip out of place when I'm doing a lot of head turning and I have to check its in place before hitting the push to talk switch. I believe it does have potential. The ground crew preffer the throat mike to the helmet mike whichis interesting !!!Brian

[asra]

briani had the same deal for years ear plugs to good could not hearthe speakers roscos got are about .5 watts turn to **** prety fastget the ones they use in the tx3200 i have the part no' here somewherethey are perfect and are a lot smaller run my uhf and mp3 flat out no worrysmark

[Des Garvin]

Hi WA folks there is a company here in WA called PROTEC HEARING Lex Sharp phone number 08 9448 3700.I have had a set of these made in 1998 an I still use them. Mine are pink in colour so as if I drop them they are very easy to find.I highly recomend these hearing protection devises.[]Birdy, It doesn't hurt a bit, will even help when the boss sounds off at ya.[]I have constant ringing in the ears and it is heart breaking at times as I have to get people to repeat them selves a lot which is embarrassing.MY ADVICE TO ALL " PROTECT YOUR HEARING AT ALL COSTS".I was told in 1967 by a hearing specilist that steel stringed guitars were the largest hearing damaging piece of gear one could own.What you focus on grows. Des Gravin

[Brian]

Des, you now need the same bit of gear to connect to the earplug and to the speaker part of your radio and you will be able to hear the radio like never before.Brian

[Brian]

AT long last, a photo ! As you can see the earplugs and the tube that goes into the plugs and the cable that goes down into the speaker jack.Image Insert: 33.38

[Brian]

Image Insert: 33.4

[Brian]

Sorry, the thing said the file had been sucessfully retrieved !Brian