Thread: Noise cancelling head phones

One of my sons, used some on a plane trip to Japan.......no plane noise.....watched all the movies......never got a meal.....and then he left them here.
The Wommo has been using them on her ride on....I stole them....replaced the batteries so that they worked!!.....and we are all happy!
I don't sing.....'cos then they could hear me!

The phones are fantastic, but "upgrade" of safety procedures is necessary.......no router noise....no table saw noise......(no inverted planer noise....Joke)....but ears will last a lot longer I hope.........WHAT???

Noel

I say 'ol Watson, I think you are talking about the ear muffs, not the ones that you use to listen to music with, say what?

Al

G'day Al,
No ......electronic buggers..plug the sound in...adjust for minimal background noise....can't hear the 747....or the table saw.
I hope they're the same device....but they're labelled noise cancelling "doo hickies".
Hope he leave more of the same behind though.
Noel

Well they sound the same, well they would if I COULD HEAR!!

Al

Smirk SMirk.......WHAT????

Noel

Hmmm. I've got some Sennheiser's I use when I travel. They are great at reducing the airplane background noise, and when plugged into the ipod you can almost forget you're on a plane.

But, I never thought to use them in the workshop. Have to give that a try this weekend.

Great idea, Al. Thanks.

Tex

Originally Posted by Tex B

Great idea, Al. Thanks.

Tex

I think it Watson you should be thanking,
I use mine in the house.

Al

I Don't Know.....they are fantastic.....they do what they say...cancel outside noise...But??
I've used them with a very noisy table saw.....no music plugged in.
I've used them with a router table...you know when your teeth ache with the high pitched noise....no music plugged in.
In all cases, I can null the noise of the tool I'm using, which is great for my ears....fingers??? don't know.
I think they are great , but maybe they should be used in the workshop with a "Warning Will Rodgers" recording plugged into them..just in case you forget the spinning thing you're working with.
(This is all from the same bloke that wanted to invert a hand planer, to make a jointer....smirk..giggle!!)
I'd be really interested in any other opinions,
But the things really work!!

Re gards,
Noel

I have a set of Bose QC2 and they are brillant. As most on this board know, I travel a lot for work so sitting on planes listening to engines roaring and kids screaming for 2hrs got rather tiring.....So, jump on ebay, buy a pair of the bose qc2 from someone in the US, save myself just over 200 big ones by doing that and I am as happy as a pig in you know what on planes now. Can hear virtually nothing.
Oh, and yeah they work extra good with me ipod.

I won't offer my opinions on bose (not favourable and not interested in a flame war), but i believe these:

http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er4.aspx

are difficult to beat in terms of outside noise suppression, combined with audio quality. The inner ear design isn't comfortable for more than about 4 hours though.

Decidamp Brand Classic earplugs for me....two pieces of cylindrical foam rubber that you stick in your ears and they block out de noise. Have tried noise cancelling headphones and every brand of earplug known to man but when it comes to decibels for your dollar the Decidamp Classics come up tops.

Tried the Sennheiser's in the shed this am. Have to say they did a great job. Far better than the muffs in the Triton Respirator (or my other set). I could defnitely still tell when the equipment was running (though I forgot about the dust extractor during a particularly great Chili Peppers guitar riff), so no concerns about touching a moving blade. But really excellent sound reduction from a lightweight set of headphones instead of a bulky set of muffs.

Thanks for the tip Noel and Al. Don't know why I never thought of using them in the shop before. Duh.

Tex

Tex is right on.

Also, IMHO the audio quality of Sennheiser ear phones is better than most loudspeakers under about $5,000 or so - they really are that impressive.


Cheers

Graeme

These nois canceling head phones have been arround for quite some time but they use to be very very expensive. Bose were one of the first to bring them out commercialy, but of late there are lots more out there.

I am concerned that they are being viewed as a safety item. Unless the technology has been packaged in some for of rated ear protection I would not rely on them to protect your hearing.

These were always designed as a comfort item not a safety device.

I have seen rated hearing protection headphones for use in aviation that have this technology incorpirated to improve performance of the headphones and improve comfort. But apart from that I havn't seen any hearing protection claims.

There are limits to the capacity of the electronics....

cheers