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As headborne hearing protection and communications systems have become ubiquitous for warfighters, law enforcement, and civilians alike, integration with eye protection and prescription eyeglasses has been an afterthought at best, relying on the softness of the pads to conform to the shape of eyewear temples, leading to hot spots, discomfort, and most importantly, loss of integrity of the earcup’s seal, potentially leading to a significant degradation in hearing protection, increasing the chances of hearing damage to the user.
Enter the Noisefighters SightLines replacement gel ear pads–designed and manufactured in the USA by a USMC veteran-owned small business, and originally funded through Kickstarter, the Noisefighters SightLines is a deceptively simple but much-needed improvement to most popular tactical communications and hearing protection headsets, including the 3M/Peltor ComTac, MSA Sordin, and Howard Leight Impact Sport, among many more.
Silicone gel replacement earcups have long been a popular upgrade to many headsets, improving comfort during extended wear, however the SightLines have gone a step further by integrating a relief cut above the earcup, allowing eyewear temples to be slid into a groove created by the relief cut, allowing the earcup to maintain a full seal over the ear while simultaneously preventing the eyewear from pressing against the head causing discomfort and pain. The relief cut allows the eyewear to rest less than one pinky finger’s thickness above the location where glasses normally rest, and it feels completely natural for eyewear to sit at this location after just a few moments and are fully compatible with prescription eyewear, including multifocal lenses.
Testing has indicated that a 1-10dB decrease in noise cancellation when eyewear breaks the hearing seal on traditional ear cushions. A broken hearing seal also permits significantly more noise into the headset, which can be extremely detrimental to proper monitoring of audio levels and radio traffic when used with communications headsets.
Noisefighters SightLines are constructed with a dual layered design to provide both superior comfort and hearing protection, using both noise cancelling memory foam (meets FAR 25.853 for U.S. aviation use) and silicone gel which maintains its flexibility in temperatures ranging from -100F to +300F (-70C to 150C). The pad’s outer skin is a durable, ultra-thin polyurethane that is antifungal and UV resistant that should last for many years under regular use.
Features:
· Gel earmuff pads with relief cuts for glasses to pass through without breaking the seal and causing headaches–can be used as normal without eyewear without breaking the hearing seal
· Unique horseshoe-ring shaped double-hump front face and 1/4? inch of silicone gel provide significantly better softness and sealing vs. competitors’ pads
· Use of super-premium acoustic memory foam and silicone gel provides superior noise cancellation
· Polyurethane outer skin is UV-resistant, waterproof, and much longer-lasting than vinyl or other alternative hearing cup materials
· Drop-in replacement for existing pads on compatible models and can be installed by the user in seconds
· Available for most popular 3M/Peltor, TCI/MSA, and Howard Leight headset models
tnvc.com/shop/noisefighters-sightlines-replacement-gel-ear-pads
I hope he patented these because the hearing manufacturers are going to be all over this otherwise.
We’ve seen several versions. See my note below
There are patents pending in the USA and the foreign patent filing processes are also moving forward.
I have multiple sets of Howard Leights for work…
These cushy inserts are totally worth the money.
simple but totally effective, get a pair.
I like seeing simple solutions like this. I’ll buy a set or two for sure.
I bought a set during their Kick Starter campaign, great product.
Have these been tested on all the listed headset types and do the OEM’s approve these as suitable replacements? For safety sake and your hearing protection make sure these are approved by the headset OEM’s and/or hearing protection PM offices for military. If not approved this would void most most hear-pro products warranties. I’m not trying to kill innovation, by all means feel free to ask 3M, MSA and others if this product is certified and endorsed by them from a safety stand point (ask for NRR/SNR certifications with these pads).
Nick,
I appreciate you asking and certainly didn’t expect a headset manufacturer’s representative of your position to post on here. At the time of this message on 8/8/2018, these pads are sold as standalone accessory products without any official certifications nor endorsements by any headset manufacturer. Being able to work with the OEM’s would be amazing, but it is out of my control at this point since none yet want to work with my company or refuse to answer phone calls and emails.
There are no specific claims regarding NRR / SNR results as no official testing has been conducted, again because no headset manufacturers are yet willing to work with my company. The only group that’s proactively contacted me is actually your own company, Invisio; a regional sales manager, Bryan M, reached out back in April in a general inquiry after being tipped off from a reviewer, but I have not heard anything since. I would love to establish further lines of communications or even a partnership with your company to get my pads factory-endorsed for use with your headsets, and I hope we can talk directly in the future. My contact information is below.
To be clear to you and anyone else reading this: my gel pads use the exact same materials (urethane skin, silicone gel, urethane acoustic foam) and are made by one of the same factory suppliers (Evans Industries, Inc.) for OEM gel pads provided through companies like 3M/David Clark/Invisio/MSA/TCI, and the only change is the addition of the relief cut.
Regarding perceived improvements in both comfort and noise attenuation in the real world achieved by using my pads, please reference the professional reviews by the Loadout Room (run by SOFREP) here: https://loadoutroom.com/41420/noisefighters-sightlines-earpro-upgrade/ and the comprehensive MilitaryMorons review found here: https://www.militarymorons.com/equipment/headwear3.html and Augee Kim’s (TNVC’s Director of Product Development & Marketing) more condensed review here: https://www.instagram.com/p/BeEQ9hXFyol/?taken-by=augee_kim and finally John Lovell’s (Warrior Poet Society) short video overview / review found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDd998Fz4n4&t=3s
I know that this information cannot address the possible issues with headset warranties that you brought up, and that was not my intention. I offer these product manufacturing details and unaffiliated real-world testing results simply in order to present an implied guarantee (warranty of fitness) for the particular purpose these ear pads were designed for: enhancing real-world hearing protection and comfort of earmuffs when used with eye protection.
Regards,
Neal Brace
Owner, Noisefighters
Direct: 616-226-3551
team@noisefighters.com
Neal, thanks for the full transparency and we’re very happy to work with your company. As you know, we test a large amount of product here, and not all meet our criteria to offer on our TNVC website.
Sorry, some refuse to answer phone calls and emails, we’re very happy supporting another Vet owned company with a great product. March on Brother.
I have a set on Howard Leights that I got on the Kickstarter. I have generally positive but slightly mixed opinions.
1. They are a lot more comfortable than the stock ones! That alone is worth the upgrade.
2. The cut where your eye pro sits is above where your ear naturally is, so your glasses get tilted down and don’t sit quite as naturally on your face. This causes you to not have quite the full orbital protection you might want, and may be an issue for Rx lenses.
Overall, I think the pros outweigh the cons. I would buy more.
Thanks for posting your thoughts and for backing this project on Kickstarter. It’s certainly appreciated. I’m glad that you’re happy overall.
Regarding your issue: a small percentage of people have reported this same thing, and I’m sorry that you’ve run into it. I’m sure you’ve tried, but my best recommendation is to lower the headset as much as possible (where the top of the ear is just about touching the top of the inside of the pad) to absolutely minimize any pantoscopic glasses tilt and provide the correct amount of orbital protection. If that doesn’t work, then I apologize for not nailing it perfectly on this first go around.
I’m always looking at ways to improve things, so I have been working on a design that won’t require use of relief cuts on top of the pad to improve comfort, plus some new features that haven’t been offered elsewhere in the market. Looking forward to having you try it, TNVC carry it, and Soldier Systems post about it some day.
I would agree with DangerMouse, on the “ridge,” height issue but these pads are extremely comfortable and HUGE improvement over stock pads on the Howard Leights. I have also lowered the headset as to the lowest point.
I have my 4th set arriving today. My first two from the Kickstarter are on my aviation headsets and I have one on my Caldwell muffs. When I finally fell into a set of Howard Leights last weekend, I had to get a set for those too.
I have over 40 hours of flight time in them and about 20 shooting. Yes for my face I get a little glasses tilt, but a fair tradeoff for comfort and increased hearing protection and the tilt is very minimal when you follow Neal’s instructions to wear the headset cups as low as possible.
I would notice the noise leak around when I wore my sunglasses flying all the time, not as much shooting because the noise impluse is so short and I always shoot with eye protection, but I now know it was there too. I had actually switched to in ear aviation headsets before SightLines, sacrificing a little lower dB protection for sunglasses comfort. Now I can get the added ANR protection again that I only get with cup style headsets and wear my sunglasses.
I got some during the kickstarter campaign for my HL’s. I think they are great, and a huge improvement.