During my visit to Clayton for the NYSOWA Spring Safari this past May, one of the items we got to try out first hand is the new EAR SHIELD™ introduced by Otis Technologies. Like many of you, I’m familiar with the company for the compact gun cleaning kits they make. Well regarded product at that. A New York based company, they have expanded their offerings in several areas such as the new product- SLXtreme rugged cell phone protection case. Although I have yet to put their phone case it through it’s paces I got a first hand look at it, and I was impressed.
http://www.otistec.com/pc_product_detail.asp?key=683F430EA7B64B86BC1508937BC44DB4
On to the Ear Shield, first and foremost they work, I found them to be light weight, comfortable, and hang easily around my neck when not in use. You can hear speech very well when using them and is ideal at the range to protect your hearing while still being able to hear commands from the safety officer on hand at the shooting range or trash talk from your buddies on the sporting clays course. In all the excitement during the turkey hunt, I didn’t have them in my ears, but I gave them the practical blast test when I returned home. I found they worked well with my 12 gauge shotgun and 40 caliber pistols. I haven’t given them a sound level test with a high power rifle or the big 44 magnum or 454 Casull as of yet. With my testing so far, I expect they’ll work fine for those too. The model I have been checking out is the FG-ESH-26 which has 26dB sound level reduction and retails @ $19.99. Model FG-ESH-31 has 31dB sound level reduction and is priced @ $24.99
This is a great hearing protection product that works, comfortable, folds up nicely in your pocket, requires no batteries and very adjustable. Priced to be easy on the wallet is also a big plus. Rather than try to explain the theory on how it actually reduces negative excessive/harmful sound events such as muzzle blasts from firearms while improving the ability to hear speech with proper hearing protection you can check out the patent document for some dry reading 🙂 It is based on a tuned chamber (1/4 wave theory) which runs up along each side above the ear and integrated into the headband
http://www.google.com/patents/US5824967″ title=”patent/US5824967
For more on Otis Technology: http://www.otistec.com
© 2015 Mike Joyner- Joyner Outdoor Media
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