A new generation of high-performance hearing protection for headphone and earpiece users.
Ideal for use where headphones are shared throughout the day.
LimitEar-FLTM protects users against the potential damaging effects of high levels of reproduced sound. LimitEar-FLTM protection can be retro-fitted onto the headphone, headset or earpiece cable to ensure that you are shielded from excessive sound levels to help you to operate within the EU Noise at Work Regulations 2005.
Using a LimitEar-FLTM fixed level limiter with an 88dB or 93dB maximum level and managing the content and exposure period, will ensure compliance with the Noise at Work recommendations.
HearAngel® is an innovative smartphone app that measures your exposure to reproduced sound through your headphones or earpieces to enable you to listen as loud as is safe for as long as you want.
There are two versions of the app, one for you to manage your own exposure and another to enable you to manage and control your children’s exposure.
Unique, patented, technology learns how much and how long you have been listening and provides you with information so that you are aware of your exposure levels so you can manage them if you wish.
If you want to be automatically protected you can set HearAngel® to intervene and manage your listening experience within the recommended safe exposure levels.
At birth you (and your children) have 15,000 auditory hair cells in each ear; you don’t get more and when they are gone they are gone. Exposure to large sound doses destroys your auditory hair cells and permanently damages your hearing. The biggest source of large sound doses for most of us is from the recreational use of headphones and with the exponential growth in digital media (which requires us to use headphones more often for longer) the risks of you or your children suffering from noise induced hearing loss are rapidly increasing.
Deafness Research UK research states that “1 in 3 of the population under 35 has chronic permanent hearing damage as a result of using headphones for music and gaming that is irreparable and irreversible”
HearAngel® is an easy to use solution to the problem, it continuously measures the listening period, the content and sound level automatically, to build a profile of your hearing exposure and presents the data, in the form of alerts, on your Smartphone. You then choose what action to take. The child’s version manages their hearing in line with the settings that have been chosen by their parents or carers.
Using HearAngel does not affect the quality of sound you hear and is unobtrusive, simple to use and the highly effective way to manage your hearing health.
HearAngel® is an app being developed by LimitEar, the inventors of a number of radical new technologies to protect the hearing of professionals and consumers alike using proven, patent protected algorithms, developed originally for use in the professional broadcast industry.
You can share data gathered by the app using social networks and it can be combined with other health monitoring data using standard protocols to help to provide a comprehensive picture of your health.
AdaptEar® is a discrete device that plugs in line between a walkie talkie or other sound source and your earpieces. It allows you to set the output level to suit the sensitivity of your earpieces and, once adjusted, AdaptEar® provides protection against high levels of sound.
Connects
AdaptEar® has a range of adaptor leads available to allow connection to a wide range of equipment. It has two inputs, a 6-pin latching Mini Din primary source and a 4-pole 3.5mm jack Aux In for a secondary source which enables you to monitor two sources simultaneously, for example two PMRs, a PMR and an MP3 player or a PMR and a Smartphone. The 4-pole 3.5mm jack Aux In allows two-way smartphone conversations and control with suitably equipped earpieces. AdaptEar® also provides a return path for a microphone to the device that is connected to the Mini Din primary input.
Protects
To provide accurate protection, you set the sensitivity switch on AdaptEar® before use. This matches the output level from AdaptEar® to the sensitivity of the earpieces you are using, and your intended listening period. Providing you with the ability to change the sensitivity allows you to set AdaptEar® for use with different earpieces, for example some AdaptEar® users have generic earpieces for low ambient noise conditions, changing to custom moulded in ear monitors for high ambient noise environments.
In operation excess signal levels are limited and cause the limiting light of the AdaptEar® to illuminate, not only informing you that limiting is taking place but also that you might be advised to turn down the volume of the source. This feature also lets you to test the unit is operational before use.
Hearing Dose is a term we use to describe the amount of reproduced sound energy reaching our ears. It is the product of the Time you are exposed, and the Volume and Energy Content in what you are listening to.
The energy content varies with the type of sound you are listening to, and it relates to the average level of the material.
The spoken word has quite a low average level (compared to peak level) because of the gaps between words and pauses between sentences. Classical Music has more sustained sounds in it, so the average level is higher for the same peak level. The average level of Rock Music is frequently nearly the same as the peak level.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) specify that you can safely listen to an average level of 85dB for 8 hours. We call this the Daily Sound Allowance (DSA®).
If you listen at a higher average level, the safe time goes down. If you listen for a longer period, the safe level goes down; in fact, it’s a direct relationship, so twice the level = half the time, and vice versa.
Ear Protection Headphones
Technically innovative, but simple to use, HDM® (Hearing Dose Management®) measures the sound level being delivered to headphones and earpieces.
HDM® continuously estimates the average dose level (LAeq – sound level over time), and anticipates your accumulated dose for the day. If your current hearing dose rate is likely to exceed the recommended level it introduces passive attenuation to reduce the level.
As HDM®Pro is working with long term average levels, it does not normally have to make dramatic changes to the perceived volume.
The signal path is completely analogue; no compression is introduced, and the overall dynamic range is unaffected.
HDM®Pro also has two further safeguards to protect you from unexpected peaks, and to illustrate this, we have divided your hearing experience into 3 parts:
“Useful” levels are dealt with by HDM®Pro as above and will typically be levels up to 100dB to allow for peaks in the reproduced sound.
“Non-Useful” levels (between 100 and 118dB) are dealt with by ROR® (Rapid Overload Response) circuitry. Any reproduced sounds between 100dB and 118dB are reduced to 100dB by a fast acting attenuator, in approximately 500ms. This will alert you to the fact you have, perhaps, plugged into a headphone socket which has been left set to maximum level, but will still protect you from possible damage.
Signals above 118dB are termed “Dangerous” and are instantaneously dealt with by a hard clipping circuit, which ensures that you are protected until the ROR® function is operating.
HDM®Pro U is best suited for individual use as it is designed to monitor and control the hearing exposure of one person
