Earplugs, who wears them?

MSPAviator

MSPAviator

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MSPAviator
I have David Clark H10-13.4 headset which I have done all my flying with. They "seem" fine for short flights (1-2hr.) but on long flights (6-8hrs) my ears were ringing and killing me by the end of the day.

Lately I've been wearing foam earplugs under my headset and I've noticed an improvement in "ear fatigue" for lack of a better term. With earplugs, to hear the radio, I have to have the volume on it and the headset turned all the way up. Without earplugs, I usually leave it at about halfway. If I cup my hands over the plastic shells of my headset I notice it gets a little quieter still so there is still some room for improvement.

Has anybody tried the Oregon Aero headset upgrades?

I have another DC H10-13.4 and a H10-30 for passengers. On the rare occasion that I carry 3 passengers, the third is stuck with just plain earmuff hearing protectors, no headset. :nonod:
 
Earplugs under headsets add noise reduction. I don't use them under my Lightspeeds, and don't need them under my DCs either since I put on Gel earseals.
 
Get a headset with active noise cancelling. Your ears are worth it!
 
MSPAviator said:
Lately I've been wearing foam earplugs under my headset and I've noticed an improvement in "ear fatigue" for lack of a better term. With earplugs, to hear the radio, I have to have the volume on it and the headset turned all the way up. Without earplugs, I usually leave it at about halfway. If I cup my hands over the plastic shells of my headset I notice it gets a little quieter still so there is still some room for improvement.

Has anybody tried the Oregon Aero headset upgrades?
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I wore earplugs under a DC headset for years. I also had the Oregon Aero ear seals and sheepskin headpiece which I though were great. This was well before ANR became popular or readily available. I think it's a good option if you are on a budget, though, as I don't think anything is wrong with my hearing and I flew small piston airplanes for about 20 years this way.
 
I use a DC ANR headset.

If I had to go with a non-ANR headset, I would wear earplugs as well. btw, I wear earplugs on airline flights.
 
What sort of glasses/sunglasses are you wearing?

MSPAviator said:
I have David Clark H10-13.4 headset which I have done all my flying with. They "seem" fine for short flights (1-2hr.) but on long flights (6-8hrs) my ears were ringing and killing me by the end of the day.

Lately I've been wearing foam earplugs under my headset and I've noticed an improvement in "ear fatigue" for lack of a better term. With earplugs, to hear the radio, I have to have the volume on it and the headset turned all the way up. Without earplugs, I usually leave it at about halfway. If I cup my hands over the plastic shells of my headset I notice it gets a little quieter still so there is still some room for improvement.

Has anybody tried the Oregon Aero headset upgrades?

I have another DC H10-13.4 and a H10-30 for passengers. On the rare occasion that I carry 3 passengers, the third is stuck with just plain earmuff hearing protectors, no headset. :nonod:
Click to expand...
 
MSPAviator said:
I have David Clark H10-13.4 headset which I have done all my flying with. They "seem" fine for short flights (1-2hr.) but on long flights (6-8hrs) my ears were ringing and killing me by the end of the day.
Click to expand...

What kind of plane are you flying?

I use a DC ANR headset and find that it is plenty quiet in most GA pistons even with the ANR turned off uness I'm flying something like a DC-3 or B-25.
 
jhausch said:
What sort of glasses/sunglasses are you wearing?
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Prescription, metal frame ones. I have the gel ear seals made by David Clark but it's possible there isn't a perfect seal because of my glasses.

Fearless Tower said:
What kind of plane are you flying?
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Either a Cessna 152, 172, or 177, spending alot of time at full throttle. :redface:

I've gotten into the habit of wearing earplugs on airline flights too.
 
bigred177 said:
Those are really nifty. Are the really as quite as an ANR headset?
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YMMV. I've seen pireps from folks who have used both, then chosen the Halos because they find them comparable in terms of noise reduction, but more comfortable (no head clamp / sweaty ears and hair). I've never used an ANR headset, so I don't personally know.

They're definitely a lot less expensive than ANR.

Thread with pireps: http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=10435
 
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Jim_R said:
My earplugs have speakers in them. I really like 'em. (Pick up a pair, and then your 4th passenger can have their own headset, too!)
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Those look really slick. I don't wear earplugs while flying, as my Bose ANR headset is quite effective, and if I'm using my David Clarks in a rental the gel cushions keep things quiet enough. But I do use noise isolating speaker earphones when I ride motorcycles, and I would estimate the noise attenuation to be at least as good as that of the Bose ANR headset, without the benefit of a side by side comparison.
 
MSPAviator said:
Prescription, metal frame ones. I have the gel ear seals made by David Clark but it's possible there isn't a perfect seal because of my glasses.



Either a Cessna 152, 172, or 177, spending alot of time at full throttle. :redface:

I've gotten into the habit of wearing earplugs on airline flights too.
Click to expand...

Interesting....not trying to be a wise-ass, but do you just have supersensitive hearing?

I too fly at FT all the time, but that's because I'm flying normally aspirated pistons at 10-12k. I also wear glasses when flying and haven't had any hearing issues.

Usually most complaints about Davie Clarks on long hauls is the comfort of the headset, vice ringing in ears.
 
Jim_R said:
YMMV. I've seen pireps from folks who have used both, then chosen the Halos because they find them comparable in terms of noise reduction, but more comfortable (no head clamp / sweaty ears and hair). I've never used an ANR headset, so I don't personally know.
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Right now I use something similar from Clarity Aloft but I haven't tried them in a propeller airplane. They are definitely more comfortable for me than than the kind that go over your ears. I've only used an ANR headset a couple times in other people's airplanes. They seemed fine to me but I've never been on a long flight with them.
 
I used to wear plugs under LS 30-3Gs. I wasn't obsessive about it but I carried disposables in my headset bag and was glad to have them in most of the time.

The last couple planes I've flown had actual mufflers. I've also traded in the 30-3Gs for Zulus. Between those I see no point in adding plugs too. Every once in awhile I feel almost too isolated...between the muffled engine and good ANR I get a little paranoid wondering whether there are engine noises or other "something's about to go wrong" sounds I'm missing. Silly but true.

I suspect that going back to a straight pipe plane would cause me to add plugs again.
 
As a side comment, DC makes some foam things that go on eyeglasses bows to help the gels seal up around them.

A set came with one of my DC headsets in a "comfort kit" that included the gel ear seals. I never tried them though. Looked like a pain.

Just mentioning them in case someone wants to try them out. Most people don't know they make 'em.
 
I thought of trying them as I discovered that the source of my ear pain was my shades.
 
Since I only wear my Lightspeed Zulu's now, I limit my use of earplugs to a noisy ramp with screamin' loud jet engines or rehearsing with the marching band.

I bought a pair of VedaloHD sunglasses which have a super thin frame which makes it very comfortable to wear with a headset. You may want to check them out or another company which makes a thin body designed pair of sunglasses.


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bigred177 said:
Those are really nifty. Are the really as quite as an ANR headset?
Click to expand...

It's a bit different, but yes, the attenuation is well into the "comfortable for extended periods" zone.

I had the Clarity Aloft and was very pleased with it. When it broke in my luggage I decided to try the Zulus. They work fine as well and have Blue Tooth for my phone. If QT or CA or even LS add blue tooth to their bud sets I probably buy because of the added comfort factor and lack of hassles with sunglasses.
 
Henning said:
It's a bit different, but yes, the attenuation is well into the "comfortable for extended periods" zone.
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I agree. I tried my Clarity Aloft headset in the Frankenkota today and I would use it regularly for that purpose.
 
I've been using the Clarity Aloft Pro model in the Pitts for 5 years and still say they work better thaany ANR headset on the market. The only downside, and I suspect it would be the same for ear plugs, is that after about 3 hours it begins to ache inside my ear canal. The only time now that I switch to my Bose or Telex 50D is on those long legs.

The passive noise attenuation on the CA is far better than the total noise attenuation of the Bose, Zulus, or Telex headsets in the Pitts.
 
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