Driving an open top car can seriously damage your hearing!

[jen]

This doesn't surprise me at all. I play the trumpet and sitting in the middle of an orchestra causes so much damage. My trumpet teacher at the RSAMD in Glasgow is principal trumpet of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and his hearing is damaged so much, he can't hear his phone ringing! Teaching brass is also bad, as apparently being in a practice room with a cornet or trumpet student playing in it's upper range for twenty minutes is enough to permanently damage ones hearing. I teach for 5 hours every day - I'm going deafer and deafer everyday! I'l have to invest in some decent earplugs, I think, even more so now we have the car back!

Jen

[skellyjohn]

I've got the moulded ones as well. ER15's.

The NHS do a free moulding service - they'd rather pay a small amount towards hearing protection than a lot when you eventually go deaf. Having the moulds knocks around £20 off the cost.

[graeme]

Just turn the stereo up to block out the wind noise. If you can't hear the wind, it can't be damaging your hearing now, can it?

/feckingenius

[Corranga]

The Townshend quote was about wearing cans in studios - usually turned up to stupid levels (been there, done that). The earphones Andy are talking about sit in your ear like earplugs (with acoustic foam plugs) so you can listen at much reduced volume - totally different to the usual earbud style sh*te. The point is that they avoid the sort of damage that listening too loud can cause, because you don't have to.

I don't have a stereo in mine (dead weight and the car kills them soon enough if you use it properly) I have an MP3 Player and Shures.

So (looking at amp3...) we're talking about isolating headphones in canal style rather than regular buds or are we further down the line, getting buds moulded to fit ears etc...?

I currently have some ok noise cancelling 'phones (Sony MDR-NC22) do these fit the bill or am I barking up the wrong tree?

Chris

[Shug]

Okay, will don my anorak for a sec...

Electronic Noise cancelling headphones (Like your NC22s) use a cunning electronics to generate a signal which cancels out background noise. It takes advantage of a phenomenon whereby if you play a sine wave, then play another exactly 180 degrees out of phase with it, they will cancel out and you hear nothing. So the NC22s (and headphones like them) use a mic to sample background noise and generate a version that's 180 deg out of phase. They are great for steady noises like background hum and chatter, but can be 'fooled' by sudden noises, which are too fast and transient for the electronics.

What I'm talking about are the noise isolating earphones that basically fit in like an earplug (so yes, looking at the site, "In Canal"). For best isolation, you're looking for those that have (or are compatible with aftermarket) foam eartips, which properly seal the ear canal. One step further, as you say, is to have tips molded and you can get that done with several of the major manufacturers.

Personal recommendation is for Shure - purely here because they feature the smallest section 'tube' that the foam tip fits around - hence they can be more comfortable. Other brands like Ultimate Ears, Sony, Denon all have larger diameter solid tubes therefore there's less material (so less give) in the eartip (when you dump the standard rubber ones and use foams from companies like Comply). When you start arguing the sound qualities between them all, it gets more complicated at varying price-points, but I am 100% convinced that the Shure top end stuff is the best in the business (SE530s, for example)

Long story short though, ear protection (with or without earphones as a side-benefit) are a necessity for long periods of roof off in an Elise...

[Gazoo]

This is the simple fix to treat yourself to a 2-11 and a lid

[Corranga]

Many thanks Shug, great info, and i'll hopefully remember this thread when I next go headphone shopping

Chris

[Scotty C]

This is the simple fix to treat yourself to a 2-11 and a lid

You don't need a helmet driving a 2-11, I have now done 19,500 miles in mine and about 300 on the road with a helmet (only when it is really heavy rain or snow).

baseball cap or beany, Oakleys (nice new ones from AMP3 ) with a set of Shures

[Matelotman]

My first ever SE run in my elise was 500 miles at max de-catted chat with the rear window removed - my head was ringing for about a week after that.......... went out and bought a box of ear plugs ASAP.

[tut]

OK if you are leading Scotty, or not behind on a road run, but I got a couple of painful stones on my forehead from Craig on our last one.

tut

[Scotty C]

OK if you are leading Scotty, or not behind on a road run, but I got a couple of painful stones on my forehead from Craig on our last one.

tut

And when am I never leading?

[Gazoo]

OK Scotty 19k in the 2-11 is not the full story have you not got that girly bolt on Perspex Plus coming from Aberdeen you your head is acclimatised to 90 mph winds standing still and sum zero temps in the summer

[tut]

Would be a contest with Craig and his 340R.

Great thing is that though I could take the lead and leave you both struggling, N3 is already shot blasted so quite happy to sit behind and take it easy.



tut

[Scotty C]

OK Scotty 19k in the 2-11 is not the full story have you not got that girly bolt on Perspex Plus coming from Aberdeen you your head is acclimatised to 90 mph winds standing still and sum zero temps in the summer

I don't use it any more

[pete]

Always wore earplugs when I had a bike.

In the Elise i wear Shures (on my 3rd or 4th pair - I wear them every day), was the foam ones now the rubber ones and they are excellent.


Pete

(Andy can I get some free stuff now??? Would like some floor standing speakers??)