An earmuffs system for noise reduction including an external microphone used in combination with active noise cancellation technology for the reduction of wind or other noises typically experienced while riding a vehicle such as a motorcycle, snow machine or ATV, the earmuffs system including a first earmuff including a first speaker and a first microphone therein; a second earmuff electrically coupled to the first ear muff, the second ear muff including a second speaker and a second microphone therein; noise cancellation circuitry for receiving first sounds from the first microphone and the second microphone and processing the first sounds by in part canceling the first sounds to form a first sound output that is provided from the first speaker and the second speaker; and a third microphone placed external to the first earmuff and to the second earmuff, the third microphone supplying second sounds for the first speaker and the second speaker to output as a second sound output without the second sounds undergoing noise cancellation processing.

A helmet includes a shell configured to extend over ears of a user with integrated acoustic ear cups or ear phones that can be positioned and pressure adjusted while the helmet is in use. An adjustment mechanism connected to each ear cup includes a portion extending through an aperture in the helmet shell to facilitate movement of the ear cup using the portion extending through the shell. The adjustment mechanism may be used to move the ear cups between a retracted position to facilitate donning and removal of the helmet and a user adjustable deployed position with user adjustable side pressure to facilitate sealing and comfort for passive or active noise reduction (ANR).

A helmet features a sound management mechanism within a hard exterior shell and an interior of expanded polystyrene foam. Ear cups embedded within the shell surround the ears, with a torus-shaped soft material forming a seal against the wearer's head. The helmet allows the transition of ear cups between engaged and disengaged positions. The engaged position is against the head. The disengaged position is away from the head, allowing easy placement and removing of the helmet. Positions may be transitioned using one hand. The helmet may include lateral adjustment of ear cups, and some versions incorporate electronic audio features like noise cancellation, communication capabilities, and wireless connectivity.

An earmuff unit for use within a head protective gear. The head protective gear is separate from the earmuff unit. The earmuff unit comprises an ear pad. The earmuff unit also comprises a flexible element arranged in at least a lower portion of a circumference of the ear pad to allow the ear pad to move, in at least a part of the lower portion of the circumference, towards and away from a shell of the head protective gear.

A surgical helmet assembly includes a surgical helmet, headphones mounted on the surgical helmet, and a noise cancellation system configured to supply a noise cancelling audio input to the headphones to mitigate unwanted ambient noise. A gain of the noise cancelling audio input is configurable to permit necessary feedback noise from surgical tools or the like to be heard by the wearer.

A wireform attachment mechanism, or support arm, that can be used to attach an earcup to a helmet. The outer end of the support arm can be opened to release the earcup, or closed to clamp onto the earcup.

Disclosed is a method for manufacturing a generally circular, oval or rectangular sealing ring for an acoustic device, the sealing ring being configured for being in contact with the skin of a user during use. The method includes: forming, in an injection molding step, a covering being generally U-shaped in cross-section; and attaching the end sections of the covering to a support element. The invention also relates to a sealing ring of the above-mentioned type.

An earcup suspension assembly is configured for connection with a rail on a helmet and for supporting an earcup over the user's ear. The assembly includes a rail connector configured for connection to the rail thereby to support the earcup suspension assembly on the rail, and an earcup suspension arm extending from the rail connector. The rail connector has a locked condition blocking rotation of the earcup suspension arm relative to the rail and an unlocked condition enabling rotation of the earcup suspension arm relative to the rail. The rail connector moves from the locked condition to the unlocked condition in response to movement of the earcup in a direction away from the user's ear.

The present invention provides an electronic helmet for cancelling noises, which comprises a helmet including a plurality of microphones, a plurality of speakers and a first communication unit; and a mobile device including a second communication unit and a control unit. When the first communication unit in the helmet connects to the second communication unit in the mobile device, the control unit generates a plurality of control signals according to at least one sound or noise detected by the plurality of microphones. The mobile device uses the plurality of control signals to control the plurality of speakers outputting the at least one sound or anti-noise cancelling the noise. By the above electronic helmet, the present invention also provides a method integrating active noise control, hands-free communication, music listening, and voice navigation so as to achieve the proposes of cancelling the noises and improving the riding quality.

Exemplary noise reducing methods and systems are configured to acoustically reproduce two electrical noise reducing signals at two opposing positions in a helmet; to pick up sound at positions in the vicinity of the positions where the noise reducing signals are reproduced; and to generate the two noise reducing signals from error-signals and reference-signals. For each noise reducing signal, the corresponding error-signal is generated from the sound picked-up at the same position where the respective noise reducing signal is reproduced; and the reference-signal is generated from the sound picked-up at the position where the respective other noise reducing signal is reproduced.