Hi all,

I have a Q that i like from you to help me about:

My friend asked me for a portable device that cancel the noise around
him while it amplifies his voice only. Actually, he wants to utilize
his time reading in the bus, instead of wasting it. He refused the
idea of mp3 player because he could not focus in reading while any
noise is a round him even if it is a music. So anyone is aware of a
product that can satisfy his needs.

Thanx in advance for all of you..!

On 10 Oct 2004 22:43:58 -0700, (moon) wrote:

Hi all,

I have a Q that i like from you to help me about:

My friend asked me for a portable device that cancel the noise around
him while it amplifies his voice only. Actually, he wants to utilize
his time reading in the bus, instead of wasting it. He refused the
idea of mp3 player because he could not focus in reading while any
noise is a round him even if it is a music. So anyone is aware of a
product that can satisfy his needs.

Thanx in advance for all of you..!

Ah, your friend is looking for the legendary Cone Of Silence.

When I invent it, I'll let you know. Meanwhile, your frined needs to
combine two technologies:
1. ear plugs are most effective at reducing high-frequency noise
1. active noise reduction headset, effective below 500 Hz

I'm sure you're already familiar with earplugs. Here is some info on
ANR (Active Noise Reduction) headphones:

http://www.avweb.com/news/avionics/183221-1.html
http://www.flightcom.net/site/headsets/index.php

Mike T.

"moon"
Hi all,

I have a Q that i like from you to help me about:

My friend asked me for a portable device that cancel the noise around
him while it amplifies his voice only. Actually, he wants to utilize
his time reading in the bus, instead of wasting it. He refused the
idea of mp3 player because he could not focus in reading while any
noise is a round him even if it is a music. So anyone is aware of a
product that can satisfy his needs.

Thanx in advance for all of you..!



** Tell your "friend" to get a hand gun - then tell everyone on the bus
to "shut the ****" up or he will shoot them.

They will then be listening to his every word.




............ Phil

Whilst Phil's suggestion is no doubt effective, you may be interested in
some ideas that don't carry the risk of being arrested...

Noise cancelling headphones (RRP)
Sony MDR-NC20 $180
Sony MDR-NC11 $150
Sony MDR-G94NC $70
Panasonic RP-HC70 $50
Panasonic RP-HC50 $40
Bose QuietComfort 2 $299

Chris

--
The voice of ignorance speaks loud and long,
but the words of the wise are quiet and few.
--

On Mon, 11 Oct 2004 11:11:31 +0100, Chris Whealy
wrote:

Whilst Phil's suggestion is no doubt effective, you may be interested in
some ideas that don't carry the risk of being arrested...

Noise cancelling headphones (RRP)
Sony MDR-NC20 $180
Sony MDR-NC11 $150
Sony MDR-G94NC $70
Panasonic RP-HC70 $50
Panasonic RP-HC50 $40
Bose QuietComfort 2 $299

But he doesn't want to listen to music. Without input, how are these
different to ear-plugs?

What's this about hearing his own voice? Does he want to talk to
himself? In this case, he's probably uneducable. Why bother to
read? :-)

CubaseFAQ www.laurencepayne.co.uk/CubaseFAQ.htm
"Possibly the world's least impressive web site": George Perfect

(moon) wrote:

My friend asked me for a portable device that cancel the noise around
him while it amplifies his voice only. Actually, he wants to utilize
his time reading in the bus, instead of wasting it. He refused the
idea of mp3 player because he could not focus in reading while any
noise is a round him even if it is a music. So anyone is aware of a
product that can satisfy his needs.

Sure--there are "noise-canceling headphones" available in all price
ranges from about $25 to ten times as much. They use a microphone (or
sometimes a pair of microphones) built into the headphones to sense
the ambient sound, then this signal is amplified and fed back to the
headphones in inverse polarity so as to cancel the incoming energy
instead of reinforcing it. That signal can be combined with anything
else (music, etc.) that a person may want to hear, or else it can
simply cancel out sound from the immediate enivronment.

In practice this approach can reduce low-frequency part of ambient
sound to a useful degree, but even in the best of these headphones it
doesn't cancel out the sound around the listener entirely. I've used
headphones like this on train and airplane trips--they've reduced the
fatigue from the continual rumble.

But the most distracting sounds are often in the midrange of human
hearing, where noise cancellation of this kind is far less effective
than it is at low frequencies. So a good pair of earplugs can be worn
at the same time, since your friend isn't interested in listening to
other material.

By the way, your friend is very smart to make that choice, since in a
noisy environment it's nearly impossible to guess how loudly you're
playing anything. Trying to hear something clearly, it's very easy to
overamplify and damage one's hearing without realizing it until later.

--best regards

"moon" wrote in message
m
Hi all,

I have a Q that i like from you to help me about:

My friend asked me for a portable device that cancel the noise around
him while it amplifies his voice only.

That's called a noise-cancelling microphone. Search google using the text
noise cancelling microphone and numerous alternatives will be presented.

Actually, he wants to utilize
his time reading in the bus, instead of wasting it.

That only requires that he be sighted and literate.

He refused the
idea of mp3 player because he could not focus in reading while any
noise is a round him even if it is a music.

That's called ear plugs.

http://www.earplugsonline.com/index.html

http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/erme.asp

So anyone is aware of a
product that can satisfy his needs.

First he has to settle on what he wants to do.

moon wrote:

My friend asked me for a portable device that cancel the noise around
him while it amplifies his voice only. Actually, he wants to utilize
his time reading in the bus, instead of wasting it. He refused the
idea of mp3 player because he could not focus in reading while any
noise is a round him even if it is a music. So anyone is aware of a
product that can satisfy his needs.

He is looking for _headphones_ that cancel outside sound, so he can listen
to music, or he is looking for _microphones_ that cancel outside sound so
he can record his voice while he reads?
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

On 11 Oct 2004 08:54:24 -0400, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:

moon wrote:

My friend asked me for a portable device that cancel the noise around
him while it amplifies his voice only. Actually, he wants to utilize
his time reading in the bus, instead of wasting it. He refused the
idea of mp3 player because he could not focus in reading while any
noise is a round him even if it is a music. So anyone is aware of a
product that can satisfy his needs.

He is looking for _headphones_ that cancel outside sound, so he can listen
to music, or he is looking for _microphones_ that cancel outside sound so
he can record his voice while he reads?
--scott

The OP makes no mention of recording - he says the guy wants to
quieten the environment and amplify his voice while sitting reading on
a bus. Sounds like a quick route to a thump on the ear to me.

d
Pearce Consulting
http://www.pearce.uk.com

In article writes:

My friend asked me for a portable device that cancel the noise around
him while it amplifies his voice only. Actually, he wants to utilize
his time reading in the bus, instead of wasting it.


Does he read aloud? Does he want to read aloud to everyone else on the
bus? If that's the case, I'd support Phil's suggestion, only in reverse.
If I was sitting next to him, I'd want him to shut up, too.

However, when I fly, I wear my Sennheiser noise cancelling headphones,
the relatively inexpensive ones, not the $900 pilot headests. It
doesn't make the world go away, and it doesn't do much for other
voices, but it does reduce the constant, droning noise and makes
reading or napping much more comfortable. While they're intended to
plug into a music player, you don't have to do that.

In fact, on some overseas flights where they provide noise cancelling
headsets in first class, they have a "quiet channel" so you can listen
to nothing while still having the noise cancellation working. I've
never been on one of those luxury flights so I haven't had a chance to
examine the hardware, but I suspect that the phones may be powered
through the cable (why you need the "quiet channel") so if you swipe
the phones, they won't work elsewhere. (kind of like the story of the
C451 that the pawn shop owner tells you doesn't work when he plugged it
into a guitar anplifier - and for $10, you decide to take a chance on
it anyway)



--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

Laurence Payne wrote:
On Mon, 11 Oct 2004 11:11:31 +0100, Chris Whealy wrote:
Whilst Phil's suggestion is no doubt effective, you may be interested in
some ideas that don't carry the risk of being arrested...

Noise cancelling headphones (RRP)
Sony MDR-NC20 $180
Sony MDR-NC11 $150
Sony MDR-G94NC $70
Panasonic RP-HC70 $50
Panasonic RP-HC50 $40
Bose QuietComfort 2 $299

But he doesn't want to listen to music. Without input, how are these
different to ear-plugs?

On some noises, they are more effective than earplugs. On other noises
(higher frequency nonrepetitive noises) they aren't as effective as
earplugs.

Sennheiser also makes some nice ones, by the way.

What's this about hearing his own voice? Does he want to talk to
himself? In this case, he's probably uneducable. Why bother to
read? :-)

That's why I was wondering if he really wanted to record himself
reading and the issue was a microphone and not headphones.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

"moon"



My friend asked me for a portable device that cancel the noise around
him while it amplifies his voice only.


** Translation form the original "moon" gobbledegook.


1. The "friend" wants to sit in an electronic "cone of silence" (while
reading on a bus).

2. The "friend" wants to be able to be heard if he speaks - so the
electronic cone must permit his voice out.



Right out of Star Trek.




.............. Phil

What the OP really needs is a Fenton Silencer.

Peace,
Paul

In article writes:

Sure--there are "noise-canceling headphones" available in all price
ranges from about $25 to ten times as much.

By the way, your friend is very smart to make that choice, since in a
noisy environment it's nearly impossible to guess how loudly you're
playing anything.

One of the things that I like about using my noise-cancelling
headphones on an airplane is that I find that I can listen to music or
the in-flight movie at a lower volume than than without noise
cancellation, so I figure that it's actually protecting my hearing and
this probably contributes to the reduced fatigue.

However, the way that this form of noise cancellation works is that it
plays "opposite polarity" noise right into your ears at a level that's
proportional to the ambient level that it's trying to cancel. While
the SPL of the cancellation noise is limited to a few mousefarts, if
you were to use them when, say, doing yard work with a
gasoline-powered weed whacker while listening to your portable CD
player, you might be pumping an annoyingly loud level into your ears.

I suppose someone has measurements somewhere, most likely unpublished.

--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

(Mike Rivers) wrote in message news:znr1097500366k@trad...
In article writes:

Sure--there are "noise-canceling headphones" available in all price
ranges from about $25 to ten times as much.

By the way, your friend is very smart to make that choice, since in a
noisy environment it's nearly impossible to guess how loudly you're
playing anything.

One of the things that I like about using my noise-cancelling
headphones on an airplane is that I find that I can listen to music or
the in-flight movie at a lower volume than than without noise
cancellation, so I figure that it's actually protecting my hearing and
this probably contributes to the reduced fatigue.

However, the way that this form of noise cancellation works is that it
plays "opposite polarity" noise right into your ears at a level that's
proportional to the ambient level that it's trying to cancel. While
the SPL of the cancellation noise is limited to a few mousefarts, if
you were to use them when, say, doing yard work with a
gasoline-powered weed whacker while listening to your portable CD
player, you might be pumping an annoyingly loud level into your ears.

I suppose someone has measurements somewhere, most likely unpublished.

Mike, think of it this way:

With nothing covering your ears, the noise from the weed whacker comes
in at full volume. With passive protection, this HF noise and a small
amount of the LF noise is attenuated by the material covering your
ears. By adding an "anti-wave" inside the earcups, the net sum for the
treated frequencies is zero SPL, or close to it. Just like combining
two waveforms, out of polarity. So this type of system actually
*reduces* the noise that reaches your ears.

Karl Winkler
Lectrosonics, Inc.
http://www.lectrosonics.com

In article writes:

Mike, think of it this way:

With nothing covering your ears, the noise from the weed whacker comes
in at full volume. With passive protection, this HF noise and a small
amount of the LF noise is attenuated by the material covering your
ears. By adding an "anti-wave" inside the earcups, the net sum for the
treated frequencies is zero SPL, or close to it. Just like combining
two waveforms, out of polarity. So this type of system actually
*reduces* the noise that reaches your ears.

That sounds good in theory, but somehow I suspect that the brain deals
with two separate pressures rather than dealing with the vector some
of them. I'd like to see some in-the-ear-canal measurements to
convince me. Do you know if there are any in the Sennheiser lab
notebooks somewhere (not that I expect to ever see them)?

--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

(Mike Rivers) wrote in message news:znr1097598936k@trad...
In article writes:

Mike, think of it this way:

With nothing covering your ears, the noise from the weed whacker comes
in at full volume. With passive protection, this HF noise and a small
amount of the LF noise is attenuated by the material covering your
ears. By adding an "anti-wave" inside the earcups, the net sum for the
treated frequencies is zero SPL, or close to it. Just like combining
two waveforms, out of polarity. So this type of system actually
*reduces* the noise that reaches your ears.

That sounds good in theory, but somehow I suspect that the brain deals
with two separate pressures rather than dealing with the vector some
of them. I'd like to see some in-the-ear-canal measurements to
convince me. Do you know if there are any in the Sennheiser lab
notebooks somewhere (not that I expect to ever see them)?

I'm certain that such measurements exist, be they from Bose, Telex or
Sennheiser (mainly for the aviation headset products) although I agree
that we'll never see them...

Since the ears are essentially pressure transducers, I'm curious how
you think the two waves can be kept separated. At least within the
earcup/ear system, the noise is actually reduced in SPL in comparison
to outside the earcup.

Karl Winkler
Lectrosonics, Inc.
http://www.lectrosonics.com

In article writes:

Since the ears are essentially pressure transducers, I'm curious how
you think the two waves can be kept separated. At least within the
earcup/ear system, the noise is actually reduced in SPL in comparison
to outside the earcup.

Just a hunch, since our hearing mechanism is pretty complex and just
summing in air seems too simple.

--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo