Anyone tried Bluetooth Ear Defenders?

[Rhyolith]

Wondering if these ear defenders with inbuilt Bluetooth are any good, has anyone tried them? Stihl and M3 both do them now.

 

[Droogs]

Would depend on them being truely noise cancelling to be any good really. i know Stumpy Nubbs swears by the brand he uses. Myself, still slightly dubious

 

[MikeJhn]

In a workplace environment I can see them being detrimental rather than of benefit, a warning siren or shouted warning may not be heard and lets face it the manufacturers are of no help, they even make what they call site radios, aren't sites noisy enough without many of the contractors all playing different stations, I used to ban them on any of my site's and confiscate them if they did not conform, especially with the practice of using fluorescent transformers to power them, but this was years ago and way off the subject of the thread, Sorry OP. (hammer) #-o

 

[sunnybob]

I has to be an oxymoron to describe radio enabled ear defenders. (hammer)

I've always hated music as background. And I'm old enough to have worked in a factory that had Workers Playtime with Wilfrid Pickles and Mabel on the table piped all around the working areas (maybe thats WHY I hate it :shock: ).

 

[Richyread]

Whilst I can't speak for the 'traditional' over-ear style defenders (with Bluetooth) I can say that active noise-cancelling - certainly the latest tech implementation of the system - has been a genuine revelation. Certainly for home/hobby use I've found using mine to be a great improvement and truly useful indeed.

In fact it's so useful, I'd concur with previous comments that they may be a little 'too good' at stifling certain frequencies/noise which could be a hazard in a more industrial setting.

Now full disclosure; my active noise cancelling headphones are supplied by the 'Festool of the Phone World'...{in the form of Apple's latest Airpod Pro's} so how that equates to the more workshop esq. units at a more sensible price point, I'm not sure .

But I can say that the technology does provide a very noticeable and substantial reduction in the higher frequency range of sounds that reach your ear.

For example, using the (petrol) lawnmower, running my DIY Henry dust extractor or my mitre saw, takes what can be a physically uncomfortable sound after around 15/20mins, to something which I can only describe as muted/poking cotton wool in your ears - the sound is still there and you can still hear the background noise, but it evens out the sound (pitch?) and possibly even filters some of the noise altogether. They also seem more effective and more comfortable than my 3M over ear cans.

One area where it really shines is in very high pitched/piecing style sounds - I've a cheap & (not) cheerful petrol brush cutter that I really can't stand using - but pop the noise cancellation on and the best way to describe it is that it sounds as if your next door neighbour is using it instead!

A completely unscientific review of course but I think it's only once you've experienced the noise cancelling did I become to appreciate quite how much excessive noise you potentially expose yourself to on a regular basis.

Ooohh and believe it or not these Apple do-dads can also (almost ) survive a cycle in the washing machine too...

Richy.

 

[gog64]

Very interesting! My limited understanding was that passive noise cancelling headphones seal out noise, so provide much the same protection as ear defenders. Active ear defenders by contrast don’t block out noise they use magic* to cancel out the noise. Hence they don’t protect your hearing. Is that wrong? Do they also use magic* to protect your hearing?

*or very advanced technology, pretty much the same thing to this old geezer

 

[spb]

Active noise cancelling works by having a microphone on the outside, and then adding the inverse of whatever it picks up to whatever it's playing, so that it mostly cancels out the noise. This makes them great for removing annoying constant background, like an aircraft engine, but not suitable for protecting your ear from harmful noise levels - effectively they fight noise with more noise. This is what you'll see in pretty much any consumer-type noise cancelling headphones, whether designed for mobile phones or music listening.

More recently we've started seeing proper hearing protection - either the big over-ear ones or the foam in-ear plugs, but that physically isolate your ear from the noise - with speakers inside the isolation, and I think it's those that the OP was asking about. I have the ISOtunes (the ones Stumpy Nubs uses), which are in-ear, and I like them. I probably use them for music only about half the time they're in, but being a physical barrier they work equally well for protection whether they're switched on or not. I wouldn't rely on them in a proper heavy industrial setting (quite apart from the valid point above about distractions at work), but for standing next to a planer/thicknesser and extractor they do the job quite nicely.

I can't speak for the 3M or Stihl ones - apart from being overkill for my need, the 3M ones I've seen are a bit out of my budget - but in principle the combination works well, provided you're sensible about using it.

 

[Sideways]

I bought a set of the bluetooth enabled ear brotectors with foam earplugs rated at high 20's db ear protection.
A bit of a pain to get them in and comfortable but they work once you have. Definately put them in and leave them for the session.

Part of my interest is bcause I have tinnitus.
Sometimes I want to listen to piped noise to drown out the constant ringing in my ears and help me get to sleep.
The funny thing is, even on very minimum setting on both my phone and the earpiece's volume control, the bluetooth audio is too loud for use in quieter settings. Absolutely the last thing I expected.

For a small traders who need to take phone calls in a noisy workshop (not me), these are supposed to be great as they have a built in mic and do noise cancelling on the outbound audio (ear defenders are totally reliant on good old foam plugs).

On balance, they cost about the same as the three sets of good peltor ear muffs I have scattered between shed, car and my mate's shed. Those are the ones I most often use. But the bluetooth jobs are great protection against background noise on train and car journeys that would otherwise leave my head ringing worse than usual.

 

[Rhyolith]

The trouble with in ear ones is the inevitable swarf gets everywhere is shoved in my ear along with the headphone, so I want over ear ones so I am nog having to clean them every time I put them in.

I want to know these ear defenders with built in speakers are any good, as they are quite expensive. But for my work something that doubles up as normal ear defenders with the option of playing music is quite attractive.

These are the ones I mean:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/401996341532
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/313062197044

 

[gregmcateer]

Spb,

Can I ask a couple of questions - with your isotunes, when they are switched on but no music is playing, do they still offer noise cancelling, or is it only if they are playing sound?

And secondly, do they have a Mic, so you can use your phone, too?

Thanks in advance.

Greg

I have the ISOtunes (the ones Stumpy Nubs uses), which are in-ear, and I like them. I probably use them for music only about half the time they're in, but being a physical barrier they work equally well for protection whether they're switched on or not. I wouldn't rely on them in a proper heavy industrial setting (quite apart from the valid point above about distractions at work), but for standing next to a planer/thicknesser and extractor they do the job quite nicely.

 

[Artiglio]

An alternative is to use something like Peltor Protac, no idea of the technology involved. But when swithced off they have excellent sound deadening ability, switch them on and you can everything that goes on around you but the harmful noises are excluded.
I initially bought them for target shooting, but they spend more time in the workshop. Very comfortable to wear for long periods batteries last for years in normal use, you vary the volume , machinery noise excluded but you’ll hear the phone ring or radio.

 

[spb]

Can I ask a couple of questions - with your isotunes, when they are switched on but no music is playing, do they still offer noise cancelling, or is it only if they are playing sound?

And secondly, do they have a Mic, so you can use your phone, too?

Yes and yes - the noise protection is physical from the foam earbuds, so it doesn't rely on them being switched on. It'll also keep working if they run out of battery. I've not tried using them for calls, but they've got the right features, including being able to answer calls from a button on the headset.

 

[RogerS]

I bought a pair of these
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08725SBVB/ ... 11_TE_item

They work very well. They cut out external noise and what's left is masked by AC/DC

Drawback is that you can't hear those subtle sounds from your planer/thicknesser or table saw when it's struggling. Also as a side benefit where we live we're plagues by horrible flies that seem to make a beeline for your ears. Wearing the cans makes them lose interest.