Ear muffs that block human speech?

[ainster31]

Apparently, from what I heard, it's illegal in the US to sell headsets that block sound in the 1k Hz to 2k Hz frequency range. The problem is that human speech is in that range and I want to block human speech so I can study. Normally, the product description reads something like this:

Patented nonelectronic noise-filtering technology filters out loud, harmful noises while allowing other important information, such as the human voice, warning sounds and alarms, to be heard.

Noise-cancelling headphones don't work for human speech and while I can drown out them with white noise, I feel like I'm going to go deaf from white noise.

Does anyone know of any products designed to reduce human voices? I am OK with purchasing it from the black market or sketchy stores if necessary.

 

[SteamKing]

Well, we don't have a ministry of headphones in the US, so I don't know what you heard about illegal headphones. AFAIK, there are no sketchy headphone stores here, and I don't recall any major busts of black-market headphone traffickers. I think someone is pulling your leg.

Have you tried industrial strength ear plugs?

The reviewer in this article seemed to have the same problem as you:

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/shopping/2005/05/the_sound_of_silence.html

 

[ainster31]

Hmm, any article like that except for ear muffs instead?

It seems that ear plugs are good at blocking human voices but I wonder if there are ear muffs that can do the same.

 

[SteamKing]

People who work in high-nose environments wear ear protection which is made with a solid shell that covers the entire ear. You see these people outside working around aircraft or in enclosed spaces working around gas turbine engines, which emit high dB noise in copious amounts.

These models are reasonably priced:

http://www.uline.com/Product/Detail...gclid=CMfBvLG467wCFUVgMgodt1IACg&gclsrc=aw.ds

You can find similar for 10X these prices:

http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/66847?productId=1113490&qs=3016887_mercent_google_pla&attrValue_0=Green&mr:trackingCode=7E645596-B0F0-E211-A497-90E2BA285E75&mr:referralID=NA&mr:device=c&mr:adType=pla&mkwid=qMaR1994_dc&pcrid=34644939417

And some from Home Depot:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Howard-L...-Wire-Earmuffs-1013942/203066871?N=5yc1vZc22t

 

[roxburgh16]

anister31, did you get to the bottom of this? I would love to know if you have found the solution to this problem. I work in a very noisy office and am interested in ear defenders that specifically block human speech frequencies. I seem to be running into the same problem you observed; all the industrial ear defenders specifically permit speech frequencies to allow the workers to communicate, often without removing their ear defenders it seems.

Did you find a suitable product in the end?