Thread: Custom molded electronic ear plugs

They should be able to tune that whistle out/down, have you taken then back in and asked? Could be worthwhile

The "whistle" will almost certainly be wind turbulence over the mic. See my prev post.
It's an inherent problem from the mic position and can't be tuned out

Originally Posted by 6x47

The "whistle" will almost certainly be wind turbulence over the mic. See my prev post.
It's an inherent problem from the mic position and can't be tuned out

How do they handle the wet?

Originally Posted by 6x47

The "whistle" will almost certainly be wind turbulence over the mic. See my prev post.
It's an inherent problem from the mic position and can't be tuned out

Don't be so sure of that, a lot of the better electronic circuits can be set to not transmit certain sounds into your ear-this is a trade off as it will make some others sounds not seem true to life.
I have had this done with both my in ear plugs and my muffs as Wellington is very windy.

As to rain-never had a problem in light rain and have always taken them out in big down pores as it's a lot of $$ to risk. Have been recommended to use a brimmed hat to protect them but hats and I don't mix so never have.

Yeah I went in ssid these are rubbish in the wind and they said thats just how they are

Originally Posted by res

Don't be so sure of that, a lot of the better electronic circuits can be set to not transmit certain sounds into your ear-this is a trade off as it will make some others sounds not seem true to life. ..

Umm, before you give me advice on this, I better tell you I'm a clinical audiologist with 32 years experience who lives and breathes top end hearing aids.

You can change gain, frequency response, maximum outputs and the full dynamic range compression in std digital hearing aids. Only the more recent top models ($6K+), generally twin mic models, have effective wind noise reduction and if the user hears wind noise in any model, chances are it's not "removable" by tuning. You can turn the gain down or try say chopping down the low frequencies but you're not truly eliminating the source.

As for water resistance, the fatal error is putting them away wet. Make sure you dry them and remove the batteries before storing. Salt water is a big no-no too

So tuning is the wrong word- all I can say is I spent money and the problem reduced,with the side effect of less true to life sounds. As I use them mainly to save my hearing I can live with that.

As you say-you get what you pay for

Gimp I’ve been wearing hearing aids now for 5 or so years to combat severe hearing loss in both ears. While it’s not exactly the advice you seek some of this may be of help.

The moulds are the easy bit and you have a number of options to choose from. Hard acrylic, silicon or my favourite is a softer material called Bio Pore. I probably wouldn’t recommend the hard acrylic as they take a bit of getting used to if you’re not wearing them frequently and often become uncomfortably after a few hours.

To effectively replace the sound that is being blocked out by the mould yet reduce the damaging louder sounds to a safe level you are looking at a higher spec hearing aid. One that can be tuned to your individual preferences – unfortunately there not cheap! Before investing in off the shelf junk I suggest you take the time and see an experienced audiologist, they will be able to make recommendations based on your needs. I can recommend a few to you if you wish but there mainly BOP based.

When it comes to windy environments even the best hearing aids struggle, there are things you can do to reduce the amount of feedback but there is always a compromise. Usually sound quality/clarity or volume unfortunately. I find wearing a beanie helps in windy conditions and also use a remote with programed settings to help combat various conditions. I’m also sure that deer can hear the ‘whistling’ feedback they can make…..

Recently my hearing aids have started playing up (damage due to water/sweat ingress) I’m looking to replace them with an aid that is claimed to be completely water proof, dust proof etc so the technology is there….you just have to pay for it, and I’m talking about 9-10 grand

I am not an audiologist but this is some of my experience based on years of hearing aid use.

Hayden-

hope you're successful finding a more waterproof aid. You'll be pleased to hear that most manufacturers now nanocoat -all- their models including the cheaper ones. Paying more money won't get you a more reliable aid in terms of corrosion/water resistance.

Likewise, paying more money will make no difference to how they control damaging levels of noise, in fact some very cheap ones do just as well as the most expensive in this regard. Anyone who tells you otherwise probably has a hidden agenda. Where more expensive models do better is in helping you understand in higher levels of noise such as a restaurant. These features are irrelevant to our shooting context.

Your advice on wearing a beanie (or growing an afro..) will def help to some extent but equally the device may be exposed to more sweat by going this direction. Silicon moulds (BioPor is but one example) are only relevant to more powerful behind-the-ear hearing aids and cannot be used as a shell for a custom-made ITE device. They also tend to make an ear sweat a bit more but are still the best option for super-power hearing aids.

6x47 could these custom sound blocking ear plugs be tuned to work in an industrial environment?

No, that's a different ballgame again. The type of compression in hearing aids is full dynamic range syllabic with additional max output limitation and you really need the slower AVC/output compression type circuits to pull constant noise down to less than 85 dB(A) continuous

Interesting thread.
I work with Simon 01 and he is Ex German army. We work in a noisy workplace and this morning he brought these earplugs to work. Cost a couple of euro's only and non electronic.Just soft plastic(not foam) with a membrane inside that shuts the noise off over a certain level.

Shooting 5.56 and .270 they work wonders,semi auto and full auto, and yet you can use a walkie talkie or hear/converse normally with them. Going to be ordering a few from a website in Germany as the company in nz doesn't have them listed and seems un interested in getting them in.
Apparently the German army uses these by the boatload they are so effective.

What really interests me is the electronic version that's supposedly only a few hundy. He's going to send the german website that sells them so I can have a looksee.

Have not seen anything in Nz to equal these,especially at these prices, and I have bad tinnitus so really keen to find out more.

Best plugs I bought were a pair of sonic defenders through the bushbuck website, you can still hear about 80% and they cut out any gunfire, fit nicely in the contours of your ears, about 40 bucks from memory. Way better than the foam ones I used to use by a mile.


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Originally Posted by oneipete

Interesting thread.
.. earplugs .. non electronic.Just soft plastic(not foam) with a membrane inside that shuts the noise off over a certain level...
...

They will have some sort of -passive- non-linear filter in them. The description of having some sort of valve is only an analogy, like the Lee Sonic Valve.

If you want proper custom-moulded silicon plugs with a non-linear filter in them, I in fact had some made for a guy last week. They use an properly designed filter that comes from Aussie outfit and this is fitted into the custom plugs made by a top hearing aid company in NZ. Cost is $220/pr. Contact your nearest Triton Hearing clinic and get them to check with Chris in Napier on the filter details when they're doing the order

Hey there,

Old thread but is this still a thing 6x47? I need some plugs to replace a set of muffs as I have to wear glasses for shooting now and don't want the crush to give me a sore head.

On another note, how good are the sonic defenders?

Cheers