4 ms·

Do they actually provide hearing protection? Hearing protection requires a pretty tight seal, which I wasn't aware of any headphones providing aside from in-ear

by bmitc 4y ago

Do they actually provide hearing protection? Hearing protection requires a pretty tight seal, which I wasn't aware of any headphones providing aside from in-ear monitors.

dwardu 4y ago
any noise cancelling makes the london underground noises bearable to travel.
stu2b50 4y ago
I mean hearing protection isn't a binary thing. I doubt they would pass hearing protection certifications for things that they're normally used for, like heavy construction or whatnot, but it'd be hard to imagine sticking something in your ear wouldn't offer hearing protection, not even considering the ANC.
- bmitc 4y ago
  While true, I think the marketing should address those. I have seen and heard of people using them as ear protection for heavy and loud equipment, like lawn mowers and motorcycles and stuff, and I’m not sure they apply there.
  - Retric 4y ago
    You don’t need nearly as much hearing protection for lawn mowers and motorcycles compared to someone operating a jackhammer or similarly loud equipment for hours a day.
    - bmitc 4y ago
      I don't think that's entirely true. Motorcycle noise on highways can be in excess of 100 dB and is broad spectrum noise. Most highway motorcycle rides are in the tens of minutes to hours range, but the damage can occur in just the single digits to teens of minutes. Beyond a certain point, it doesn't really matter much that something is worse for your hearing than something that will permanently damage your hearing. Plus, people are interacting with lawn equipment, motorcycles, and other such things far more frequently than jackhammers.
      - Retric 4y ago
        Jackhammer’s can be 130 decibels it’s easily a thousand times as loud as motorcycles so we really are talking different realms of sound protection being needed. Also Motorcycle helmets should reduce things. Further it varies but motorcycles really shouldn’t be 100db, California’s legal limit is 80db for motorcycles manufactured after 1985.
        bmitc 4y ago
        It's not the motorcycle itself making noise. It's wind noise.
        Retric 4y ago
        Source? At highway speeds motorcycle wind noise is nowhere close to 100db. Are you talking about high speed motorcycle racing or something?
        kolp 4y ago
        At highway speed here in France, (110-130 km/hr), the wind noise is sufficient to cause tinnitus for me, if I'm not wearing ear protection under my helmet. The bike style is a factor - my touring bike has a movable windshield that can push the airflow above my head, but the wind noise from the daily bike, with a tiny windshield, is like sticking your head out the window of a moving car.
        bmitc 4y ago
        According to this article, the source is from an OSHA study. I can’t find the study at the moment. https://www.hear-it.org/motorcycles-hazardous-to-your-hearing https://www.hear-it.org/motorcycles-hazardous-to-your-hearin...
- Gigachad 4y ago
  I’ve used them as hearing protection at music concerts. If you put them in transparency mode it keeps everything sounding the same but just quieter.
dougmwne 4y ago
That is an advertised feature, so I assume that the lawyers have looked into those health claims as somewhat defensible. First, they do seal, so even if it's not as tight as a foam earplug, it is something. Second, there's the ANC which is producing out of phase sound and lowering the sound pressure level reaching your ear. I have seen commercial hearing protection with ANC, though I'm not sure if it's allowed to be advertised as such. The theory is sensible at least. Thirdly, the ANC is allowing you to listen to your audio content at lower volumes, especially in a very loud environment like an airplane. Fourthly, there's an advertised hearing protection feature in passthrough mode where external noises loud enough to cause hearing damage will be automatically reduced. Fifthly, There are sound pressure measurements being sent to the iphone for audio content loudness in real time, and also over time notifications you receive if you have been listening too loudly. So all in all, yes in practice, but we're not exactly talking OSHA here.
- joeman1000 4y ago
  I really wanted you to get to sixthly, seventhly, eighthly, ninethly, tenthly...
Merad 4y ago
As far as I can find Apple does not advertise an official Noise Reduction Rating (NRR) for them though there are some review sites claiming they have a NRR of about 22-23, comparable to basic foam earplugs. I personally wouldn't rely on them for anything where you actually _need_ hearing protection - shooting, loud machinery, etc.
- bmitc 4y ago
  Most foam earplugs have ratings in the 30s, which is a fairly significant increase. https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/hearing-protection-us/products/foam-earplugs/ https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/hearing-protection-us/products/f... My concern with the Airpods are simultaneously playing music through a small speaker, with its own negative affect on hearing (long term), while also trying to attenuate (poorly) loud noises.
mdavidn 4y ago
I wear AirPod Pros on flights and when walking over a busy freeway for lunch. The noise cancellation feature works really well. I can continue listening to music or podcasts at an indoor volume. The AirPod Pro does form a seal. My only complaint is that something in the noise cancellation mic tends to wear out over time. After about 18–24 months of use, I start to hear an unpleasant high-pitch sound whenever I touch the mic opening on an earpiece. This could be related to dropping them, which is inevitable. I'm on my third set now.
- dougmwne 4y ago
  That was a manufacturing defect with the first gen. I had a pair replaced for free.
steve_adams_86 4y ago
I used my original AirPods Pro as hearing protection on a table saw. It's not a terribly loud saw and I use thin kerf blades, but it's quite comfortable. At age 36 I can still heard 16-17kHz tones (typically you hear up to 15k by 40), so it seems to be working well enough. For my giant router I use muffs. The AirPods act funny around stuff that loud, and it stops feeling comfortable.
- soneil 4y ago
  For a fun time, try wearing the airpods underneath ear defenders. I swear I can hear my brain.
quartesixte 4y ago
Yeah I would not use them as hearing protection against industrial level noise. In my experience, Jackhammers and rivet guns will absolutely blast through the foam and the ANC will not be fast enough (the noise also too sharp and high frequency). Everything else works great but people reading this thread: wear proper hearing-protection!
birdman3131 4y ago
Not those but I have used these before and they are very good at blocking sound passively. https://www.directsoundproaudio.com/product-page/ex29-plus-extreme-isolation-headphone https://www.directsoundproaudio.com/product-page/ex29-plus-e...
theshrike79 4y ago
Anecdotally yes. I've used them in situations where the "ambient" music is ear-splittingly loud (Apple Watch saying GTFO or you're gonna go deaf). Aipods Pro 2 in and I can still hear what people are talking, but the loud noises are brought down considerably. AW decibel check goes from 90 -> high 60/low 70 with ANC on. Not as good as actual proper earplugs, especially the ones that look like pine trees, but I carry my Airpods with me everywhere - earplugs I don't. The Airpods go to the Airpods pocket in my jeans, I do have earplugs in my bag, but it's not with me at all times. My pants are =)
gooseyman 4y ago
I have often wondered if the ANC creates more noise in overcoming the outside noise. I did some googling, but the results made me feel like I was asking a dumb question. I'm genuinely curious: are there any audiophiles on here that could answer? FWIW - with the ANC off, sounds that make me 'cringe' (sawzall, table saw, hammer drill, etc.) are very much muffled and seem to be just as muffled as when using foam ear plugs. As others have said, there is a big difference between noise levels for a guy remodeling his bathroom with power tools and a someone that saws concrete for a living.
- wlonkly 4y ago
  Not a dumb question at all! At a basic level, ANC creates "anti-noise", a waveform 180º out of phase with the noise, and they cancel each other out. So the resulting waveform is much lower amplitude than the original. I don't know anything about this channel but I watched a bit of this video and it seems to be a good explanation of how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GC4P5r7Zaw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GC4P5r7Zaw

by bmitc 4y ago

Do they actually provide hearing protection? Hearing protection requires a pretty tight seal, which I wasn't aware of any headphones providing aside from in-ear monitors.

dwardu 4y ago

any noise cancelling makes the london underground noises bearable to travel.

stu2b50 4y ago

I mean hearing protection isn't a binary thing. I doubt they would pass hearing protection certifications for things that they're normally used for, like heavy construction or whatnot, but it'd be hard to imagine sticking something in your ear wouldn't offer hearing protection, not even considering the ANC.

bmitc 4y ago
While true, I think the marketing should address those. I have seen and heard of people using them as ear protection for heavy and loud equipment, like lawn mowers and motorcycles and stuff, and I’m not sure they apply there.
- Retric 4y ago
  You don’t need nearly as much hearing protection for lawn mowers and motorcycles compared to someone operating a jackhammer or similarly loud equipment for hours a day.
  - bmitc 4y ago
    I don't think that's entirely true. Motorcycle noise on highways can be in excess of 100 dB and is broad spectrum noise. Most highway motorcycle rides are in the tens of minutes to hours range, but the damage can occur in just the single digits to teens of minutes. Beyond a certain point, it doesn't really matter much that something is worse for your hearing than something that will permanently damage your hearing. Plus, people are interacting with lawn equipment, motorcycles, and other such things far more frequently than jackhammers.
    - Retric 4y ago
      Jackhammer’s can be 130 decibels it’s easily a thousand times as loud as motorcycles so we really are talking different realms of sound protection being needed. Also Motorcycle helmets should reduce things. Further it varies but motorcycles really shouldn’t be 100db, California’s legal limit is 80db for motorcycles manufactured after 1985.
      - bmitc 4y ago
        It's not the motorcycle itself making noise. It's wind noise.
        Retric 4y ago
        Source? At highway speeds motorcycle wind noise is nowhere close to 100db. Are you talking about high speed motorcycle racing or something?
        kolp 4y ago
        At highway speed here in France, (110-130 km/hr), the wind noise is sufficient to cause tinnitus for me, if I'm not wearing ear protection under my helmet. The bike style is a factor - my touring bike has a movable windshield that can push the airflow above my head, but the wind noise from the daily bike, with a tiny windshield, is like sticking your head out the window of a moving car.
        bmitc 4y ago
        According to this article, the source is from an OSHA study. I can’t find the study at the moment. https://www.hear-it.org/motorcycles-hazardous-to-your-hearing https://www.hear-it.org/motorcycles-hazardous-to-your-hearin...
Gigachad 4y ago
I’ve used them as hearing protection at music concerts. If you put them in transparency mode it keeps everything sounding the same but just quieter.

dougmwne 4y ago

That is an advertised feature, so I assume that the lawyers have looked into those health claims as somewhat defensible. First, they do seal, so even if it's not as tight as a foam earplug, it is something. Second, there's the ANC which is producing out of phase sound and lowering the sound pressure level reaching your ear. I have seen commercial hearing protection with ANC, though I'm not sure if it's allowed to be advertised as such. The theory is sensible at least. Thirdly, the ANC is allowing you to listen to your audio content at lower volumes, especially in a very loud environment like an airplane. Fourthly, there's an advertised hearing protection feature in passthrough mode where external noises loud enough to cause hearing damage will be automatically reduced. Fifthly, There are sound pressure measurements being sent to the iphone for audio content loudness in real time, and also over time notifications you receive if you have been listening too loudly. So all in all, yes in practice, but we're not exactly talking OSHA here.

joeman1000 4y ago
I really wanted you to get to sixthly, seventhly, eighthly, ninethly, tenthly...

Merad 4y ago

As far as I can find Apple does not advertise an official Noise Reduction Rating (NRR) for them though there are some review sites claiming they have a NRR of about 22-23, comparable to basic foam earplugs. I personally wouldn't rely on them for anything where you actually _need_ hearing protection - shooting, loud machinery, etc.

bmitc 4y ago
Most foam earplugs have ratings in the 30s, which is a fairly significant increase. https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/hearing-protection-us/products/foam-earplugs/ https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/hearing-protection-us/products/f... My concern with the Airpods are simultaneously playing music through a small speaker, with its own negative affect on hearing (long term), while also trying to attenuate (poorly) loud noises.

mdavidn 4y ago

I wear AirPod Pros on flights and when walking over a busy freeway for lunch. The noise cancellation feature works really well. I can continue listening to music or podcasts at an indoor volume. The AirPod Pro does form a seal. My only complaint is that something in the noise cancellation mic tends to wear out over time. After about 18–24 months of use, I start to hear an unpleasant high-pitch sound whenever I touch the mic opening on an earpiece. This could be related to dropping them, which is inevitable. I'm on my third set now.

dougmwne 4y ago
That was a manufacturing defect with the first gen. I had a pair replaced for free.

steve_adams_86 4y ago

I used my original AirPods Pro as hearing protection on a table saw. It's not a terribly loud saw and I use thin kerf blades, but it's quite comfortable. At age 36 I can still heard 16-17kHz tones (typically you hear up to 15k by 40), so it seems to be working well enough. For my giant router I use muffs. The AirPods act funny around stuff that loud, and it stops feeling comfortable.

soneil 4y ago
For a fun time, try wearing the airpods underneath ear defenders. I swear I can hear my brain.

quartesixte 4y ago

Yeah I would not use them as hearing protection against industrial level noise. In my experience, Jackhammers and rivet guns will absolutely blast through the foam and the ANC will not be fast enough (the noise also too sharp and high frequency). Everything else works great but people reading this thread: wear proper hearing-protection!

birdman3131 4y ago

Not those but I have used these before and they are very good at blocking sound passively. https://www.directsoundproaudio.com/product-page/ex29-plus-extreme-isolation-headphone https://www.directsoundproaudio.com/product-page/ex29-plus-e...

theshrike79 4y ago

Anecdotally yes. I've used them in situations where the "ambient" music is ear-splittingly loud (Apple Watch saying GTFO or you're gonna go deaf). Aipods Pro 2 in and I can still hear what people are talking, but the loud noises are brought down considerably. AW decibel check goes from 90 -> high 60/low 70 with ANC on. Not as good as actual proper earplugs, especially the ones that look like pine trees, but I carry my Airpods with me everywhere - earplugs I don't. The Airpods go to the Airpods pocket in my jeans, I do have earplugs in my bag, but it's not with me at all times. My pants are =)

gooseyman 4y ago

I have often wondered if the ANC creates more noise in overcoming the outside noise. I did some googling, but the results made me feel like I was asking a dumb question. I'm genuinely curious: are there any audiophiles on here that could answer? FWIW - with the ANC off, sounds that make me 'cringe' (sawzall, table saw, hammer drill, etc.) are very much muffled and seem to be just as muffled as when using foam ear plugs. As others have said, there is a big difference between noise levels for a guy remodeling his bathroom with power tools and a someone that saws concrete for a living.

wlonkly 4y ago
Not a dumb question at all! At a basic level, ANC creates "anti-noise", a waveform 180º out of phase with the noise, and they cancel each other out. So the resulting waveform is much lower amplitude than the original. I don't know anything about this channel but I watched a bit of this video and it seems to be a good explanation of how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GC4P5r7Zaw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GC4P5r7Zaw