Noise-sensitive earmuffs

[bk42261]

Not sure if this is the correct term, but I need a set of the earmuff-style hearing protectors that allow "normal" sounds like voices, to be heard, but block out louder noises; especially engine-type. I am going out on a lobster boat with my son-in-law this weekend, and the exhaust noise of the boat makes it impossile for me to hear normal conversation and ship-to-ship radio chatter. Any recommendations? I would be getting them at either Wallyworld or Dick's or possibly Home despot. Thanks for any help, people!

 

[Ramone]

Not going to work. They work by shutting out when the noise gets higher than a certain level, so in a high noise envoirment (like a dry stack lobster boat) they just shut out every thing.

 

[Claude Clay]

$300 for Koss Noise Cancelling is what you want.

what you are willing to pay wiil be what you buy...$135 for Dillon E-Muffs down to $65 for Cabela's (kinda junky) e-muffs. though thse are designed to cancel sharp sounds; not drowning motor noise.

 

[natman]

There are two kinds of ear muffs. Electronic switched earmuffs like Peltor 6s are for sudden peaks of noise like shooting. They would allow you to hear conversations, but if the noise of the engine is loud enough to trigger them they will cut out everything.

Noise canceling earmuffs are for continuous background noise like engines. The problem with them is that they are designed to block out ALL external sounds, including conversations, so you can hear the internal sounds made by the signals transmitted via the headphone jack.

I don't know of anything that will selectively block out the external engine noise while transmitting external conversations.

 

[hso]

As pointed out you're looking for noise canceling ear muffs instead of electronic shooting muffs. You can go as low as $100 reliably with active noise canceling buds/plugs/muffs, but keep in mind that you can not use them for shooting.