Aldi Electronic Ear Defenders

[The Medway Handyman]

How the kinell to these work then?

[dom]

Anti-noise:

'd want to be very sure that Aldi product had all the right approvals (and still provided good protection with a low or flat battery) - as noise-induced hearing loss is such an insidious process, and you don't realise until irreversible harm has been done.

[NoSpam]

I've been using noise-cancelling headphones in aircraft for many years, they're the dog's wotsits.

[Rod]

I have recently been using foam earplugs for protection - rather than my ordinary defenders. I much prefer them, but they could be awkward on site or similar. (You need clean hands to handle them and it isn't so easy to take them out for a moment if you do need to hear someone.)

[Tim S]

[e-mail] coughed up some electrons that declared:

Personally I wouldn't touch them for this purpose. Ordinary ear defenders work well - and more importantly, they work consistently.

Things like this are great when you want to shut out most external bibbling, like on a train, 'plane or working at an office job. But for large machines and building sites, stick with the simple and reliable products :)

Cheers

Tim

[dom]

Mixed bag. I can see the benefit (though haven't tried them) of those fancy models that actively "limit" potentially harmful noise, but will pass speech through normally.

[Owain]

[Dave Liquorice]

They normally do, strangely this item description is rather lacking in detail.

Looking at them I suspect they do, they look suspiciously Peltor like but almost certainly a copy. The lack of description makes me wonder what sort of electronic ear defenders these are. The ones using anti noise or ones used by shooters that allow you to hear normal conversation but cut out the BANG?

[The Natural Philosopher]

The latter almost certainly

They simply clip at a safe level of sound.

[Bruce]

Most sites I have worked on since 1981 have made foam earplugs available to operatives and staff. They don't eliminate noise, just reduce it, so you can still hear raised voices.

[Steve Walker]

I find that they give me a hollow thudding feeling with every step I take - most uncomfortable. I much prefer traditional ear defenders, preferably the clip on type if I've got to wear a hard-hat too.

SteveW

[Peter Parry]

I was involved in ear defender trials some time ago for weapon use (not just small arms). The earplug type were the least useful of all. They gave the illusion of protection as the peak attenuation was within the audible spectrum but allowed ear damaging noise outside that spectrum through. They were useful for occasional use (such as passengers on a Hercules) and for use in addition to earmuff types in exceptional noise environments.

Earmuff types with foam head seals were next best and earmuff with glycerin filled earpads the best. Beyond a certain level the force required to clamp the muffs to the head to create a good seal and exclude noise was so painful it became impractical.

Electronic ear protection came in two sorts. Active cancellation inverted the noise and amplified the inverted signal to reduce the sound pressure level within the ear shell. These are excellent in high noise environments and the only ones we found gave protection in the highest noise environment we were considering (some aircraft and inside the engine bay of a Chieftain MBT). They are also very expensive.

The more common type (and probably the Aldi are these) were simply earmuffs with a built in amplifier of limited output. These allowed normal speech through in quiet environments but acted as ear defenders in noisy ones. For impulse or non-sustained noise they were excellent but of less use in a sustained noise environment as they simply shut down.

Unfortunately one of the most damaging sound regimes we found was from

5.56mm small arms fire. Noise damage is not benign, you don't just loose hearing you also often get Tinnitus - a sustained and very debilitating continuous sound in the ear (try sleeping with a chainsaw going non-stop in the room). An awful lot of soldiers and airmen are going to be retired with hearing damage in the next decade or so.

[Rod]

Well I have just been referred for ear problems (which might explain a thing or two) but I do find it difficult to chat with someone whilst wearing them. But I can hear enough for basic communication. And they are very effective at reducing the noise I hear.

[Bruce]

I first came across them when working on a piling project where steel sheet piles were being driven through sand to a set into sandstone bedrock using a large diesel piling hammer which was indescribably noisy. I used both foam earplugs and a pair of ear defenders with the interior space additionally filled with polyurethane foam. After 12 weeks of this, my ears survived unscathed, and are still fine, but several people I worked with on the same project (28 years ago) have suffered hearing loss to varying degrees in the time since.

I do suffer from tinnitus, but I did so long before then, so it wasn't that project that caused it.

[Rod]

Yes - the types of noise I have endured have been silence compared to that. One place I used to work switched off the A/C at 17:00. I would breath a sign of relief and feel as if a weight had been removed from my shoulders. But I couldn't even hear the damned thing when I arrived in the mornings.

I too 'suffer' from tinnitus, and have done since around 8 years of age, a long time. And some mysterious hum which might or might not be to do with my hearing. (No-one else can hear it.)

[Bruce]

Office air conditioning makes a silly amount of noise. But when you look at the sharp bends in the ducting, it's easy to see why.

Hmmmm ...

;-)

[Rod]

And I can't get away from even here... :-)

[OG]

It's not always just the aircon. Open plan offices often use low level white or pink noise to suppress distracting sounds.

[nightjar]

Bose cost a bit more than sixteen quid a set though.

Colin Bignell

[Rod]

I have thought that might be the case in some places. It certainly worked!! But I am pretty sure that specific building it was A/C. Did they use white/pink noise generators 30 years ago?