I guess I am confused. "Headsets don't work, so we must buy a Bose." Isn’t a Bose a headset first, then a noise canceller? The Bose manual says in several places that they only protect low frequency noise, and only when the cups seal properly, which is your gripe about headsets!
It seems this thread has already convicted the old headset technology, and now thinks only a Bose active headset is acceptable, when a Bose depends on its ear cups, too.
Here is a paper that describes how well helmets and earplugs work to suppress noise, and how ANR does not change the noise above about 500 HZ (see Table I which has tons of studies together. It shows that ear muffs (headsets) and helmets work on your head):
http://www.aearo.com/pdf/hearingcons/limits2.pdf
Also, the hearing loss most of us get is high frequency, which is where the Bose does not work. Above about 500 Hz the active nose canceling is not at all effective. Bose used to say that on their web site, probably until they realized that they were losing sales that could be gained if they blurred the distinction between comfort (which they do provide) and protection (which is a very marginal product of the Bose technology). Here is a scientific paper that describes the fact that ANR does NOT protect you better than a good headset (but that the better communications and comfort are good to have.):
http://www.aearo.com/pdf/hearingcons/anr.pdf
Without someone who knows what he is talking about, this thread is wandering into strange territory!
Here is the Bose site, check out their manual, page 19 for example:
http://www.bose.com/controller;jsess...Br5LCs06T7R58J!103858704!-174109993?event=VIEW_PRODUCT_PAGE_EVENT&product=headsetx_hea dset_index&linksource=centernav_img_pilots&pageName=/index_2.jsp
Here is a web site that discusses hearing loss, showing that it usually occurs
far above the range where Bose helps:
"When damage first occurs, it usually affects the part of the ear corresponding to the mid-frequency range of 3 to 5 kHz. On an audiogram, this type of hearing loss configuration is commonly referred to as a "noise notch." These frequencies correspond to the region where our consonant sounds are heard. A person with this type of hearing loss may have trouble understanding speech because the speech sounds "muffled"........ because the louder, lower frequency vowels are audible but the softer high frequency consonants are made even more difficult to hear, due to reduced hearing sensitivity in that spectral region."
http://www.hei.org/news/factshts/nihlfact.htm