Aviation headset

Yes, absolutely. It is a common misperception that you need to wear something that covers all the ears, to receive effective protection against noise. Our hearing protection is fully certified and provides highly accurate, reliable protection.

Not at all. Many Serenity users wear their eShells for 8 – 10 hours every day.

Generic ear shells also provide certified hearing protection, however our custom-molded ‘eShells’ are recommended for heavy and/or long-term use.

No, they are highly robust thanks to their being made from clinical nylon.

Phonak eShells can be easily cleaned with water, alcohol, or even in the washing machine (up to 60°C / 140°F).

FreeCom’s custom-molded ear shells are produced to fit your ears exactly. This means we need your ear measurements, so the FreeCom buying process is slightly different to that of a ‘normal’ off-the-shelf pilot headset.

Here’s how it works:

1. First, buy your FreeCom headset from your nearest Dealer.  You can find your closest dealer by using

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or visiting this Dealers page (just choose your country from the list and ensure they stock FreeCom by checking Aviation is written in green under the company’s name).No dealer in your country? Choose another country; most dealers can help you buy online or over the phone.

2. When you receive FreeCom, take its Voucher and Quality Check documents from its pack to your nearest hearing care professional to have your ear impressions made (this takes just 5-10 minutes). You can locate your nearest hearing care professional on this page.

3. Lastly, post your ear impressions back to your FreeCom supplier using the box provided. We will work with them to produce your ear shells and when they are ready (just 1-2 weeks) your dealer will get back in touch with you directly. Done!

Still have questions? Don’t hesitate to drop us a mail.

The two types of headset take a different approach to reducing and optimizing the sound a pilot hears in his or her ears.

Traditional Active Noise Reduction (ANR) headsets employ two miniature microphones—one measures the noise level outside the headset’s ear cup (the surrounding noise), and the other measures the level ‘at the ear’ (inside the ear cup). A loudspeaker inside the ear cup then creates a ‘phase-inverted noise wave’— a sound wave whose peaks and troughs are the exact opposite of those of the external noise wave. This ‘filling the gaps’ approach effectively cancels out low-frequency noise, reducing the noise level that the pilot hears under his/her ear cups by several decibels.

Due to its focus on low frequencies, ANR technology best counteracts non-fluctuating, resonating noise such as the background hum a pilot hears in the cockpit of a jet say. It does little to overcome fluctuating noise (i.e. sounds that span higher frequencies) and sharp ‘impulse’ noises. Therefore with traditional ANR headsets the attenuation (reduction) of such dangerous higher frequency sounds is typically handled by the ear cups themselves, which usually offer either passive or active (level-dependent) attenuation.

In contrast, Dynamic ANR’s approach addresses all frequencies—both low and high. It compromises several technologies and features:

First is level-dependent hearing protection. This employs two external microphones—built into FreeCom’s earJacks—which measure the surrounding sound pressure level before sending this entire signal to the headset’s electronics box. This then analyses whether or not the overall sound level is above 84dB. If louder than 84dB, its software algorithm attenuates this sound to below 84dB (i.e. reducing a sound of 90dB by 6dB for example), before playing back this sound to the user—exactly ‘as is’—via the internal loudspeaker inside the earJack.

This level-dependent hearing protection is then partnered by four additional features:

• Acoustic shock protection
  For the instantaneous reduction of annoying transient sounds and improved listening comfort.
• High-resolution 16-band fine scale noise cancellation
  For optimized listening comfort in loud but not dangerously noisy conditions.
• Adaptive equalizer (high pass filter)
  For extra attenuation of low frequencies in loud noise.
• Volume control 
  This allows the user to adjust the headset’s ambient awareness to suit their listening preferences and is particularly useful for pilot’s looking to compensate for an existing hearing loss.

This combined technological approach has several benefits: it addresses all frequencies of noise, not just the low ones; it provides the pilot with excellent ambient awareness in quiet—meaning they don’t need to remove their headset to hear and talk normally; and it provides a completely accurate representation of the surrounding soundscape, whatever the noise level.

This kind of accuracy is particularly helpful when holding face-to-face conversations and when needing to identify the slightest changes in engine noise (a common requirement for helicopter pilots).

Finally, FreeCom 7000’s Dynamic ANR behaviour can also be completely turned off, allowing the pilot to use only the passive hearing protection provided by FreeCom’s custom-molded eShells.