Thu, Mar 06, 2003
We ran an announcement earlier this
week about the Voice Alert system, which
activates a voice notification whenever a stall or gear horn
goes off. The release noted that users of active noise-reducion
headsets might find this particularly beneficial, as the
noise-cancellation work the ANR sets do is so very good, that a
pilot might miss, for instance, a gear horn, at least until the
prop starts getting shorter.
ANN readers are
everywhere, and it didn't take long for us to get a note
from Michael Feldbauer, who happens to be the Product Manager,
Aviation/Tourguide, for Sennheiser Electronic Corporation. He
volunteered, "As you know, Sennheiser is one the leading
manufactures of ANR Aviation headsets. In reading this article
(press release) we would like to note a common error: if the ANR is
working as designed, it is removing low frequency noise. When you
reduce this low frequency noise the noise left is easier to be
heard. Since warning devices in aircraft are high frequency, they
will be able to be heard better using an ANR headset then using a
passive headset. Based on this, it seems that the Voice Alert may
help non-ANR users more then ANR users."
Wishing to investigate further, this old
Editor wrote to Mr. Feldbauer, asking, "I've been using ANR sets
since the first ones came on the market (and I still use my
original Telex set), and I've noticed that high frequencies, as
well, are attenuated. It's near-blissful, with the set on. Perhaps
it's the age of the technology of my set. Have the attenuation
curves been significantly altered in the past 10-12 years?"
He replied, "The early Telex unit you speak of also had very
good passive attenuation and the passive portion does target mid-
and high-frequency noise. Maybe it is time for a laboratory to test
and publish the truths about the current technologies and have good
data for the pilot population to make decision with." (Our
Sennheiser guru may have signed up for some homework...)
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