New from HBL for April is a lightweight, cost-effective hearing protection system that includes a situation awareness feature. Called Aurelo, it is ideal for industries where employees deal daily with noisy environments – such as construction, steel and oil – thanks to its ability to compress all unsafe noises to an industry standard level of 85dB, while still allowing users to hear normal noise, such as conversations with colleagues.
“We call it the bulldozer effect,” explains Steve Jupp from HBL. “If you’re wearing standard ear defenders while using a hammer drill and a bulldozer comes up behind you, you won’t hear it. With Aurelo, you will.”
The company has been making headsets for a number of years and were approached to make a hearing protection system with situational awareness for the military. HBL identified a gap in the market for a cost-effective version of the military-grade product for commercial use, and spent 18 months developing Aurelo, an ITE headset with situation awareness microphones. The result is an entry level system that is a sixth of the price of some of its competitors and doesn’t require daily recharging. Instead, the Aurelo needs just three standard AA alkaline batteries for up to 800 hours of operation.
With the number of claims for hearing damage on the increase, it’s no surprise that companies such as train operators are already lining up to trial this clever, lightweight device.
Find out more about Aurelo full product specification