Ear muff allows speech

A new industrial ear muff, which allows workers to speak and hear while protecting them from dangerous background noise, has been launched by Australian company Sensear Pty Ltd.
The company used the recent Safe Work Australia Week to launch the device, which is designed to help combat noise induced hearing loss, the world's most common occupational illness and the primary cause of hearing loss which inflicts one out of six Australians.
The new ear muff uses patent-pending Speech Enhancing Noise Suppression (SENS) technology, a world first that minimises dangerous industrial noise, while allowing face-to-face, mobile phone and two-way radio communication.
Already winning awards in recognition of its innovation and contribution to medical science, the device is being used in Australia by Alcoa, Rio Tinto, Woodside and Qantas.
Sensear CEO Justin Miller said it was estimated that 130m people in the developed world had some degree of hearing loss.
The situation where people struggle the most is when they are in a high noise situation. Our benefit is simple: hear speech in high noise environments. We have more than 50 clients using or trialling the device around the globe. After the trials, most companies are coming back to place bigger orders as users experience the benefit of clear, safe communications in high noise environments, he said.
According to Australian Hearing, loud noise is the number one preventable cause of hearing loss. Damage due to noise exposure is cumulative, which means the higher the noise level and the longer the exposure, the greater the damage.
Miller said that last September, Sensear exhibited at the world's largest safety and health exhibition in Anaheim California.
The show was a great success for Sensear, and we increased our sales leads by over 100% on the previous year. We are very excited about our global potential across a number of industries such as mining, aviation, manufacturing, transport and hospitality, he said.
More information: 08 6488 8120, info@sensear.com, www.sensear.com