The better hearing protector is not the one with the highest attenuation rating but the one with with the adequate rate for the specific work place it is intended to be used in and the lowest possible tension. Tension is the force the wearer is experiencing by the cups of the heaing protector. The higher the tension the more likely it is that the user will not accept wearing the hearing protector longer than a few minutes. The adequate attenuation rate for the job is what really matters to avoid over-protection by only staring at the highest SNR rate. Overprotection exists when the hearing protector supresses all surrounding sounds. The result is accustic isolation of the user leading to tiredness and concentration problems. Being unconcentrated never helps to enhance quality and worse than that it can result to injury or death. How does the ROCKMAN hearing protector range avoid these problems ?

Plastic Headband

As a plastic manufacturer we have to admit that price has to be adressed as main benfit of using plastic. As hearing protectors never are being used under the same climatic circumstances, it is fact that plastic is reacting far more intense than steel. Therefore the tension tends to be very different depending from the climatic circumstances the plastic headband is being used in. Even the use of high quality plastic is strongly due to varying tension rates. Please compare the loss of tension after 4 and 8 hours of permanent use. Curve 1 shows the tension loss rate of a headband made from plastic compared to a headband from stainless steel wirel.

Headband from stainless steel

Main benefit of the stainless steel wire headband is surely not the price but the supply of constant tension rate at all temperature and humidity conditions the user has to work in. For permanent, professional use a

hearing protector with constant tension is required to provide a reliable attenuation rate which will not vary any hour. By the use of stainless steel wires we don´t have to cmpromise our goal of achieving a very low tension rate + an impressive noise supressing performance. The new patented DualElastan headband guarantees a maximum of tension constancy as the wires are supported by a rigid frame of plastic they are mounted to and then moulded in with TPE. The result combines the benefits of steel and plastic.

Our Professional Quality hearing protectors with steel wires have an average tension rate of 8,7 N, only 62% of the 14 N tolerated by European Norm 352 describing the testing procedure for hearing protectors.

Curves demonstrate loss of tension over a period of 8 h >

DUALELASTAN Headband

All ROCKMAN stainless steel wire hearing protectors are equipped with the new DualElastan headband. Please compare the DualElastan headband to conventional headband designs like:

• Replaceable headpad
  
• Extra lateral rigidity to make it virtually crushproof
  
• Stable headband lateral pressure
• No cracking of headband cover film
• Indreased durability

How can this be achieved ?

DUALELASTAN headbands have a hard core stabilizing the stainless steel wires. After having been assembled the the headband unit will be moulded in TPE a very elastic plastic material keeping the headband elastic under any workplace circumstances. By the way the classical wire headband has been considerably improved by the Dual Elastan design.

Conventional Headband designs

Conventional wire headband designs connect the two wires with double layer PCV film with inner foam padding or by moulding the wires into a lader like frame

1: The first system does not support or protect the wires. The headband can be bent out of shape. The headpad is too thin and cannot be altered. A heavy weight (such as accidentally dropping a heavy tool) will crush the headpad and deform it. PVC film does not age well and ends to harden and crack as the polymeriser dissipates.

2: System 2 supports the lateral pressure perfectly but there is no headcushion. The hard structure will start to cause pain after a short period.

Cushions from PVC-Foil

All - as far as we know all ! - manufacturers use Polyvenylchloride as cover foil for ear cushions. Polyvenylchloride contains softener to get a smooth surface. By the time PVC tends to loose the softener, the process is getting accelerated by heat and sweat. Result is a significant shrinking up to 20 % of the original shape of the ear cushion. With the process of shrinking the cushion is loosing its elasticity. The loss of ability to adjust to the users head shape is leading to loss of performance of the hearing protector. Very few user do replace their cushions on a regular base, most of them use a hearing protector which is far behind of its performance capabilities.

Transparency of model performance !

What is meant by that? ROCKMAN Safety Products offers one hearing protector for every thinkable work-place noise environment, not 2 or 5 models showing only marginal difference in attenuation performance. To find a adequate hearing protector for the workplace in question, the noise has to be measured and analysed over a range of frequencies. As hearing protectors are tested according to EN 352 starting at 125 Hz and ending at 8000 Hz, these band of frequencies should be measured at the workplace. Once the noise has been analysed this way, a hearing protector can be choosen supressing the noise exactly the most at the frequency, the workplace is exposed to the most.

ELASTEX 3500

ENHA is using ELASTEX 3500, a special plastic frequently being used as base material for respirator mouthpieces. ELASTEX 3500 does not mind heat or sweat. It will never shrink or harden. It is expensive but the ideal hearing protector cushion for professional and permanent use. Furthermore TPE is very smooth with a slightly rough surface supporting ventilation and keeping the user sweat free for a longer period of time.

• No chemical softener additive
  
• No shrinking, no cracks
  
• Very smooth
  
• Surface structure more profiled resulting in significant less sweating
  
• Better resistance against chemicals

HiProfile

Newest patent our technicians gave birth to is HiProfile. HiProfile is a profile like a car tire has. Result is not only better ventilation of the ear cushion but as well a better adjustment of the cushion to the head shape of the wearer. That does not seem to be sensational but the second thought with HiProfile is that a lot of users have to wear correction glasses. The temples cross the cushion allowing noise into the cup by a gap opened by the temples. The HiProfile cushion surface allows better adjustment to the temples keeping noise out.