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High noise vs Noise cancelling

wireweinie

wireweinie

FOUNDER
Palmer, AK
I've got a customer that flies a couple of turbine powered ag planes. He goes through noise canceling headsets at a rate of about one a season. Each time it seems as if the noise cancelling portion gives out. He has been running Bose models and does NOT like Lightspeed stuff (comfort issues).

So what are other ag drivers using for headsets/helmets that use noise cancelling? Is this unique to this customer or have others seen this happen?

Web
 
I’ve got a LOT of hours with Lightspeed’s clamped in place. Never had any problems with the Zulus except replaced one cord set. One set now has quite a few hours on it.

I can’t wear Bose, cause their earcups are to small.

I tried one of the new DC ANR headsets, and seemed like their earcups are even smaller. He might want to try one of them, DC has an awesome return policy.

But, if he’s hard on equipment, he might try a good old fashioned David Clark standard headset and ear plugs. That’s what I used in the Beaver, worked fine, and those DC headsets are bomb proof.
 
He probably won't like my comments. In the beaver at work, Bose headsets generally cannot handle full takeoff power, and it overwhelms the ANR. I own a David Clark OneX, which has the benefit of lower clamping pressure than all the others, very large foam seals, and is my favorite for most piston engines. It also cannot handle takeoff power in the beaver. The Zulus handle beaver noise better than any of the others, and keep working year after year. They have less clamping pressure than the Bose, so interesting that he has trouble with them.
 
What kind of helmet does he wear? I upgraded my Gallet to Bose A20 a few years ago. Bose puts holes in the earcups to let a little noise in to tickle the ANR but my Gallet shell covers the entire earcup. It's the best noise attenuation I've ever experienced. FWIW, I do have Zulu 2 and 3s, with and without a helmet but with earcups exposed. ANR earcups concealed inside a full shell? That's as good as it gets. I'm sure I could have put Zulus into the helmet and had the same opinion.
 
My helmet at work has a Zulu installation. I don't have much time with a Bose installation, never occurred to me that the helmet might make a big difference on the sound, but I do love quality ANR in a quality helmet.
 
Has anyone tried taping over the audio pickups for the noise cancelling circuit? Sort of like putting a muff on a mic?

Web
 
My Pitts overwhelms ANR, as well, so I installed CEP-USA earbuds in series with the Headsets, Inc modules in a DC headset. You're not going to get better noise protection than that.
 
We use the CEP earbuds plus full helmets at work. They’re good at blocking turbine helo noises and letting the coms come in clean.
 
There's likely a way to add a switchable attenuator component to the ANR's sound detection circuit. Small accessible switch or adjustable pot that inserts a resistance or ? Turn it on when ambient noise is high, then reduce the effect under normal flight. Save the ANR from overloading or clipping the signals.

On HF radios decreasing the RF gain or adding fixed attention allows the analog and digital noise reduction or blanker circuits to function under high signal levels.

Gary
 
I was surprised to hear an ag pilot isn't wearing a helmet. Seems like most do these days. That said, it's his noggin.

The US distributors for Gallet helmets offers a rig like CamTom refers to. I think as much as Ag pilots get in and out of the plane in a day's work, that setup might lend itself to breakage and be a hassle to get on and off.

If you are going to buy a true aviation helmet, Gallet should definitely be high on your list. I've worn Gallet helmets for several thousand hours, and many long days. They have excellent noise attenuation (mine had Lightspeed ANR) and very comfortable when properly fitted. Their fitting system does work. Not all do.

MTV
 
txpacer said:
My Pitts overwhelms ANR, as well, so I installed CEP-USA earbuds in series with the Headsets, Inc modules in a DC headset. You're not going to get better noise protection than that.
Click to expand...

Ill second this, open cockpit Pitts with DC and CEP’s. Experiment till you get correct size earbuds (included with cep kit) and no issues.
 
The noisiest plane I’ve flown is a Skywagon spinning a long prop at 2850 with retracted Fluidyne 3600s. Zulus are up to that task. I’ve never missed my old DC 13.4s!
 
wireweinie said:
I've got a customer that flies a couple of turbine powered ag planes. He goes through noise canceling headsets at a rate of about one a season. Each time it seems as if the noise cancelling portion gives out. He has been running Bose models and does NOT like Lightspeed stuff (comfort issues).

So what are other ag drivers using for headsets/helmets that use noise cancelling? Is this unique to this customer or have others seen this happen?

Web
Click to expand...

The 802 eats up anr's fast. They work hard and just wear out, I consider them consumables. I, and a lot of others run Headset Inc modules. Keep spares to swap in when they start to squeal, before the squeal becomes a scream. They now have a $49 flat rate module repair. They have kits to install in any standard earcup. I always install their new harness, single cord, and power plug in the plane. Customer service has always been excellent.
 
I was flying BE18’s when the David Clark H13X came out. They seemed able to keep up with 2 985s with short stacks. They weren’t very comfortable by todays standards though.
I still have them….but haven’t been used in a decade.
 
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