Howard Leight by Honeywell had several new models of hearing protection at the SHOT Show for people to try out. One is called the Honeywell Sync Wireless while the other is an updated version of the Impact Sport.

SYNC

The Sync is an over the ear muff that provides 25 dB of noise attenuation. The real key with this muff is that it is Bluetooth 4.1 enabled. It allows you to stream music or other audio to the muffs wirelessly.

Additionally, the Sync has a boom mic so you can take calls from your phone through the ear muffs. One of the reps I spoke to said the noise cancelation circuitry in the mic was so good that you could hold a normal conversation with someone while mowing your lawn. I’m not sure if the noise cancellation is really that good, but I would be happy if it is.

IMPACT SPORT BOLT

Many shooters have the Impact Sport line of ear pro. These use low profile, over the ear cups to reduce harmful noise. The new Bolt model offers an improved amplification circuitry that provides a 5x boost in sounds, which could be great for hunters listening for animal movements. Additionally, the circuitry has a much faster 0.5 millisecond response time.

Lastly, and perhaps more impactful than the other improvements, the system uses compression technology so that when a loud noise is encountered, it doesn’t simply shut things down. Instead, it uses a compression algorithm to attenuate the harmful sound while still allowing you to hear other sounds like conversations.