Amplified headset for Open gun

[Norville]

I initially bought the sound meter so I could measure the sound reduction in the car so I could see if it would be hearing safe for my kid to be in the RV without muffs at what distance.

I figured your 911 would be more of a concern than your RV! I am debating foam plugs for long highway drives in my 992.

Back to the subject at hand….

Open guns are loud, that is a given. I RO a lot, and open guns need foam plugs plus my MSAs on top. Most other divisions I can run one or the other.

Two layers of electronic earpro might be introducing more variables than the systems can account for. Passive muffs on top, or foam plugs underneath. I’m guessing you may have tried that already so really not much help.

[JCN]

I figured your 911 would be more of a concern than your RV! I am debating foam plugs for long highway drives in my 992.

Any drive in any vehicle longer than 30 min and I put in earplugs! It helps so much with fatigue.

When I was racing and towing 25k miles per year it was amazing how much of a difference!

Road noise is one thing that noise canceling works well on, if that helps.

[Norville]

Any drive in any vehicle longer than 30 min and I put in earplugs! It helps so much with fatigue.

When I was racing and towing 25k miles per year it was amazing how much of a difference!

Road noise is one thing that noise canceling works well on, if that helps.

I fly a lot, and Bose or new AirPods Pro2 work great. I imagine they would in the car as well.

Would not want to light off a comped 38 Super wearing either though

[Clusterfrack]

Interesting thread so far! As others have already posted, nearly all hearing protection is "passive" and works by damping (absorbing) sound waves. 33 dB seems like the upper limit of credible claims for passive noise reduction in muffs and plugs.

All amplified hearing protection does is let you hear surrounding sound through microphones. Most of these have filters that cut off when loud sounds are present. They don't increase the level of noise reduction.

With one exception that I'm aware of: the Nacre QuietPro. This is a unique device that combines sealed foam earbuds with active noice cancelling. It monitors surrounding sounds through one set of microphones, and injects the inverse waveform into the ear canals with earbud speakers. The specs claim 34-42 dB of noise cancellation, and based on my experience with these I believe it.

The Nacre requires an airtight seal in the ear canal. On startup it goes through a calibration procedure that plays tones in each ear to test for "leakage". If there isn't a good seal, a warning tone sounds in that ear.

Price new on these was in the $1-2k range, but they can be found in decent condition on eBay for $100-200. The replacable earbuds are hard to find, so that can be a problem.

[Default.mp3]

Interesting thread so far! As others have already posted, nearly all hearing protection is "passive" and works by damping (absorbing) sound waves. 33 dB seems like the upper limit of credible claims for passive noise reduction in muffs and plugs.

All amplified hearing protection does is let you hear surrounding sound through microphones. Most of these have filters that cut off when loud sounds are present. They don't increase the level of noise reduction.

With one exception that I'm aware of: the Nacre QuietPro. This is a unique device that combines sealed foam earbuds with active noice cancelling. It monitors surrounding sounds through one set of microphones, and injects the inverse waveform into the ear canals with earbud speakers. The specs claim 34-42 dB of noise cancellation, and based on my experience with these I believe it.

The Nacre requires an airtight seal in the ear canal. On startup it goes through a calibration procedure that plays tones in each ear to test for "leakage". If there isn't a good seal, a warning tone sounds in that ear.

Price new on these was in the $1-2k range, but they can be found in decent condition on eBay for $100-200. The replacable earbuds are hard to find, so that can be a problem.

The TCI Liberators also utilize ANC. That being said, ANC usually isn't particularly useful for gunshots and the like, but instead is much more useful for low frequency repetitive noise, such as engine noise when in a vehicle or when operating near heavy machinery. You'll notice that ANC headphones might work great against the engine noise of an airplane, but you'll hear a crying baby in the cabin still very well. The Liberators are claimed to provide an extra 4-9 dB of noise cancellation when ANC is turned on, though it did not specify at which frequency. Passive ear pro tends to be less effective at lower frequencies, hence why comboing it with ANC works really well for general sound attenuation, but ANC in itself doesn't really do much for trying to attenuate gunshots specifically, as ANC works less well at higher frequencies (mostly anything above 1k Hz, I believe, due to the unpredictable nature of how the noise would be propogating), and in particular against impulses, which gunshots are a prime example of (due to the speed at which the cancellation waves must be generated, and the timelag that corresponds and thus doesn't get injected fast enough to defeat the impulse).

I'll also note that the "34-42 dB attenuation" is almost certainly not NRR, but SNR, given its wording. In that case, plugs usually do quite well, as a set of Ops-Core's NMFI plugs by themselves are rated for up to 38 dB of attenuation when used with the provided tips (but is only 30 NRR), while 3M's TEP-200 is also rated for that level of attenuation with some tips.

[JCN]

I fly a lot, and Bose or new AirPods Pro2 work great. I imagine they would in the car as well.

Would not want to light off a comped 38 Super wearing either though

I heard that AirPods have the ability to offer NRR with the right tips.

It also occurred to me that I might not have been clear that I was recording external gunshots from inside the car / RV rather than road noise. Like if my kid was playing in the RV parked at the range…. If you got that, carry on.

[BK14]

Ops-Core AMP with NFMI plugs are what I use now, and I think they are absolute money. Haven't had any noticeable issues with audio cutting out.

For background, I started out simply using Shure IEMs with the triple flange as passive hearing protection on the pistol range. I then upgraded to MSA Sordin Supreme-Xs with SureFire plugs using Shure olives, before trying out the Safariland Liberator HPs with the SureFires for a bit, before finally settling on the AMPs with NFMI plugs with Comply Canal Tips.

I think that the noise suppression is absolutely stellar with the AMPs/NFMI plug combination, with excellent situational awareness and sound reproduction. In terms of situational awareness, if bare actives muffs are a 100, active muffs paired with normal foamies are a 20, active muffs paired with the SureFires with the filter caps open are a 50, and the AMPs/NFMI are probably a 98. In terms of sound suppression, the AMPs/NFMI plug combination is also excellent, with me feeling just fine standing next to a guy running a 10.3" and a brake while everyone else with just muffs definitely were wincing and doubling up usually afterwards.

Peltor has their TEP-300/ComTac VII combo that operates the same way, though even pricier than the Ops-Core AMP, albeit with arguably better capabilities (the TEP-300s can act as amplified plugs on their own, while the Ops-Core NFMI plugs are strictly passive without the AMP; they also interface with the SCU-300 wireless PTT, but that's not very useful in just range use).

The ComTac VI is a cheaper potential option, as it has an earplug mode specifically for use with passive plugs, where the audio is boosted to try to compensate for the use of said plugs.

Unfortunately, these are all communication headsets, so will be substantially pricier than most hearing protection options.

I’ll second the opscore amps and nfmi. I get headaches super easily now from noises, but these cut that out. Short barrel rifles in a shoot house aren’t bad at all with the doubled up ears, but you still have super good hearing when not having gun shots.

Mine are issued, but now that I’ve experienced how great these are, I’d save pennies and pay for my own.

[Clusterfrack]

I heard that AirPods have the ability to offer NRR with the right tips.

It also occurred to me that I might not have been clear that I was recording external gunshots from inside the car / RV rather than road noise. Like if my kid was playing in the RV parked at the range…. If you got that, carry on.

Not the kind of noise canceling that counters noise from explosions.

[JCN]

Not the kind of noise canceling that counters noise from explosions.

No, I was talking about just the passive NRR of the bud itself, separate from the electronics.

I think they were selling a special earpiece for them. I’ll see if I can find it later.

[Archer1440]

First thing I would check if your Sordins are shutting down is whether the concussion is causing an interruption in battery continuity- that’s not normal behavior.

Try a different AAA set first, and also try them on with the mics facing backward.