Ear Protection - Bose QCII?

[fyeguy]

I currently use foam earplugs and conventional ear muffs at the range, but I also have a pair of Bose Quiet Comfort II Noise Cancelling headphones that I was thinking of trying.

http://www.bose.com/controller?event...adphones_index

There's no db rating available from Bose, but they do a great job at blocking out persistant, constant "white noise" (I travel constantly and use them on airplanes).

Has anyone tried them at the range? Anyone have any experience with them?

[gsh341]

They won't work for the range. The way they filter out background / white noise is by sampleing the noise and emitting an identical noise 180 degrees out of phase with the sampled noise. That's why someone can talk to you and be heard clearly, but a lawnmower will be muffled.

A gunshot doesn't last long enough to be sampled and canceled before it all over.

[TomSwift]

In addition to what GSH341 said (although I don't think these actually digitally sample the signal), the ear cups on these won't seal tight enough even if the circuitry could catch the impulse and cancel it.

[Oni]

Originally Posted by gsh341

They won't work for the range. The way they filter out background / white noise is by sampleing the noise and emitting an identical noise 180 degrees out of phase with the sampled noise. That's why someone can talk to you and be heard clearly, but a lawnmower will be muffled.

A gunshot doesn't last long enough to be sampled and canceled before it all over.

So there is absolutely no point here to using the Bose Quiet Comfort II Noise Cancelling headphones if trying to reduce(or catch and silence) the a pistols firing noise?

[nightraider]

I imagine Bose headphones don't have the response time needed to block out the noise with its destructive interference technology. Its not worth the risk of permanent hearing damage by testing this out.

The way normal electronic hearing protection works is first, it provides hearing protection against impulse, around 19-23 dB depending on what you get, then it relays sounds 85 dB or less in a safe volume.

[wannabe]

Originally Posted by fyeguy

I currently use foam earplugs and conventional ear muffs at the range,

After my day at the local indoor range today (I should mention I'm new to guns&ammo) I walked away deaf enough to think I might need something like the Bose.

I made the mistake of taking my new Peltor earmuffs with me -- and no foam earplugs. And that probably would have been okay, except that some guy showed up with what must have been a hand-held cannon (I never got a look that the thing) and he took up lane #1 to my left. I don't think it helped that he was right next to the wall shooting that bazooka.

When his first shot went off I almost wet myself. I happened to be looking at my box of ammo when the second shot went off and the half-full box jumped a quarter inch off the lane's shelf. Shots 3, 4, 5, and 6 filled the air with enough smoke to look like a 5-stage smog alert in the Los Angeles basin after a week of a winter inversion layer.

I'd started the day shooting an XD9 and then borrowed an XD40. The 40 was louder than the 9, but my next shot with the 40 sounded like a cork pop gun compared to the artillery next door.

I loaded the rest of of my .40 and proceeded to violate the 1 shot/second rule so I could get out of there before the next barrage hit.

So ix-nay on the Bose -- but thumbs-up on some good foam earplugs to go with my muffs.

I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight with my ears ringing like this.....

[DigMe]

Originally Posted by Oni

So there is absolutely no point here to using the Bose Quiet Comfort II Noise Cancelling headphones if trying to reduce(or catch and silence) the a pistols firing noise?

Yeah. Put them on and have someone make a loud noise or make one yourself. It doesn't really cancel that out (at least not from my experience with them). It just cancels out constant noise like chatter and airplane drone.

bc

[fyeguy]

Thanks guys. Kind of what I figured, but I've had a hard time getting any info from Bose.