[SAGE] System Administrator Tool chest..

Tue Feb 7 12:55:55 PST 2006

I have a pair of custom molded 'Noise Brakers'. They have a little valve 
in them that lets the pressure equalise and makes it possible to hold a 
conversation (although not as transparent as noise reducing headphones, 
you're right that the latter are useless in a DC).

I got them at Sears (in Canada) in the hearing aid department, but this 
was many years ago. I don't know if Sears still does this (in Canada or 
the US), but you might try suppliers of hearing aids or industrial ear 
protection.

They're not quite as effective as full ear muffs, but they are very 
good. They're also translucent and relatively unobtrusive - e.g., if you 
want to sleep through a meeting... (:-)

Also - remember to relax as much as possible when they're taking the 
mold, which involves pouring a compound called 'Audilin' (I think) into 
your ear. I had to have one ear redone because of fit, mostly because I 
had clenched my jaw too much when the mold was made. It's not at all 
painful, just strange to have cold wet molding compound in your ear...

- Richard

John Clear wrote:

>On Tue, Feb 07, 2006 at 11:21:50AM -0800, John Costello wrote:
>  
>
>>On Tue, 7 Feb 2006, Cat Okita wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>[0] ... and it's -really- easy to get badly dehydrated in the datacenter
>>>      
>>>
>>Ear plugs.  It isn't so bad in the small server rooms (10x10), but after
>>half an hour in a large DC my ears are ringing.
>>    
>>
>
>I use clam shell style ear muffs anytime I'm in my data centers.
>My main data center is just uncomfortably loud, my other one makes
>your ears ring after just a few seconds in the room.  Conversation
>is still possible, since the ear muffs dont block out much in the
>voice range, and even without hearing protection, you need to shout
>to be heard over the noise.
>
>I've looked into active hearing protection a bit, but most of what
>I've found is geared toward lower frequency construction type noise,
>and not the higher frequency fans and such that you find in a data
>center.
>
>Anybody find any good active hearing protection, preferably something
>that lets you hook up a cell phone to it?
>
>John
>  
>