Hii all,
I have to agree with Gomer Pylot on this one. The Clarity aloft headset is excellent. Whilst working in the the States instructing I used my old passive D.C.s which where fine but got tight and sweaty after hours of flying in the Florida sunshine. After that I tried the Telex Stratus 50d which were a lot quieter but they really clamped my head and I started to get headaches (maybe I just have a fat head). After that I bought the Clarity Aloft which, as Gomer mentioned only have fixed wing plugs (so I fitted a heli one) but they seemed as quiet as the Telex which claimed to have 50dB attenuation and were really comfortable. The Clarity Aloft claim to have a passive noise reduction rating of around 39-40dB whch as I remember is as much as a DC with ANR (27dB plus about 13dB ANR) and they really are comfortable and quiet. The only problem is that people see you walking on the ramp and think you've bought an airliner headset by mistake or that you've borrowed it from Britney Spears and that it must be crap because its so insignificant looking.
After getting back to the UK I started flying the AS332 offshore and was issued with a Peltor. After training and fliyng on line for three weeks I was beginning to get tinitus in the evenings after work. I tried using the Clarity aloft but the engineers moaned at me saying it wasn't certified for public transport. I used it secretly for about 10 flights and the tinitus disappeared. A colleague told me a about a kit made by CEP in the US which has the same earpieces as the Clarity aloft but is fitted to any headset and is worn underneath the earcups.
At the moment I use the Peltor with the CEP kit underneath and I have no tinitus and the engineers are happy.
I agree with some other posters that although some ANR headsets feel nice and seem to be quiet, they may be letting in damaging freqeuncies that we don't hear. I think the answer is some form of really good passive reduction which physically doesn't allow frequencies to enter your ear canal.
Will be interested to see the results from the H & S people offshore...
BTW for those that are intersted the site for CEP is
www.cep-usa.com
Happy New Year,
Fay