Jumping with earphones

[Jon26 0]

Hey, just wondering how many of you guys n gals jump with music?

I'm considering investing in some in-ear noise cancelling headphones. Any of you guys tried them out already?

Not sure how effective they'd be at reducing wind noise.

Apparently they only cut out certain frequencies so they should be fine with a dytter.

What do you think?

[AggieDave 6]

If you do a search for mp3 players or music you'll find a few threads that pretty much hash and rehash (and rehash and rehash) the different arguments for and against.

Furthermore, noise canceling headphones are fairly bulky and typically on the ear or over the ear style headphones. I'm not real sure how you would put them on and have them stay on while jumping.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[darkwing 4]

Fitting them in you helmet issues aside, I think they'd be OK for reducing airplane noise, but not good for freefall noise.

Just to be clear - I'm violently opposed to using them to play music while jumping.

-- Jeff
My Skydiving History

[phoenixlpr 0]

Quote

Hey, just wondering how many of you guys n gals jump with music?

I'm considering investing in some in-ear noise cancelling headphones. Any of you guys tried them out already?

Not sure how effective they'd be at reducing wind noise.

Apparently they only cut out certain frequencies so they should be fine with a dytter.

What do you think?

Wow! Here is the next rookie wants jumping with music.

Why don't you jump blindfolded?

[bigway 4]

Do all your threads get the same answer that your suggestions and feedback thread were suggesting?

I say go for it, you may as well try it but then again, it is not like you could listen to a whole track in freefall and surely you have more important things to concentrate on than music. Why listen to a third of a song when you could be concentrating on improving your skydiving skills and your wareness around yourself and others instead? Maybe even teaching yourself how to fly better would be better for you on a jump rather than listening to a third of a song?

Just my opinion, I dont really understand why you would want to concentrate on music when you could instead concentrate on improving your skills and safety.

I would also suggest that you read the Ops manual in NZ as it may have something in it with regards to carrying extra objects, you may find you need at least a B certificate or even a C certificate. Also you may want to ask Nzone if you are allowed to carry loose objects up with you and also find out if you are inssured under the NZPIA or NZPF if you were to drop it and it were to hit and kill another person or strike someones car/house etc. as it is not part of your skydiving gear.

Just a thought.

.Karnage Krew Gear Store
.

[CReWGEEK 1]

Most people I know that tried it found it distracting.

[UDSkyJunkie 0]

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I'm considering investing in some in-ear noise cancelling headphones.

I haven't tried them, and I'm not interested. Consider:

- What if there is an in-aircraft emergency... do you really want to spend several seconds removing the headphones and forcing the pilot to repeat himself?

- Sometimes sounds from your canopy tell you things... I'd like to hear them.

- Even if you don't think so, it's distracting you.

- Are you really that bored?

I think it'd be really cool on a sunset cross-country, but anything else I just don't see how anyone could have so little going on while jumping that they need headphones.

Funny story: My dad used to listen to headphones while jumping, and one day he had a malfunction right as the music started. To this day he jumps out of his skin whenever he hears the first 3 bars of "rebel yell". This malfunction was in 1985!!!

"Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission."

[Jon26 0]

Thanks for the responses. I didn't think the idea would go down too well

To answer a few questions though;

What originally made me think of using headphones was that a lot of guys i know wear ear plugs to help cut down on repeated exposure to wind noise affecting their hearing, which seems sensible enough. I thought, well if ur gonna wear ear plugs then why not use ear phones and have something to listen to in the plane and possibly in freefall.

The particular ones i was thinking of are in-ear type so the fitment wouldn't be a problem.

The noise cancelling doesn't actually make you deaf to the world but cuts down noise (like in freefall). I think you'd still be able to hear your canopy as long as the music wasn't blaring.

I snowboard a lot with music and don't really feel that it distracts me but find it relaxing.

As for being allowed at nzone, well, i'm not sure until i try but i've asked the instructors about it and one of them wears headphones himself while jumping.

Out of interest how many of you guys have jumped with earphones?

[DSE 3]

On fun jumps, I occasionally jump with in-ear etymotics. I waited til my 100th jump to try it. I recommend against it unless you're the last one out, pulling high and the last one out. It's more of a sunset load treat. I also have a breakaway cable that disconnects my headphones from the MP3 player. You won't hear the wind at all, and likely can't hear your audible. Not good. The music adds a different timing to the jump, and it's very easy to become distracted. Not good. You can't play it in the plane unless it's very low, because you can't hear the PIC. Not good. With low jump #s you don't want to be fiddling with anything as you're going out the door, either.
No different than a camera jump or other "special" jump, a jump with music needs to be well-thought out, you should have plenty of experience and solid awareness before planning one.
I celebrated my 100th with a minibottle of wine, plastic glass, music, and a high pull. I also was flying a big boat of a 210.
IMO, noise canceling won't do squat in freefall.

[NickDG 23]

Gizmos, gizmos, and more gizmos . . .

AAD batteries, mini-cam batteries, alti batteries and MP3 batteries. I wonder when the first unintentional water landing electrocution will come . . .

NickD BASE 194

[airtwardo 6]

Quote

Gizmos, gizmos, and more gizmos . . .

AAD batteries, mini-cam batteries, alti batteries and MP3 batteries. I wonder when the first unintentional water landing electrocution will come . . .

NickD BASE 194

Gotta be a way to market a battery belt to replace weight vests!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[phoenixlpr 0]

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AAD batteries, mini-cam batteries, alti batteries and MP3 batteries. I wonder when the first unintentional water landing electrocution will come . . . Wink

I got one when I had Neptune, Optima, Garmin Geko 301.
No damage, all are water-proof or at least water resistant.

[pilotdave 0]

I thought about that! I found some heated motorcycle gloves that looked like they'd work great for skydiving... except that you need to wear a fanny pack with 8 D batteries (or plug into a motorcycle 12-volt system). I thought that might be...annoying.
Dave

[Jon26 0]

I will probably wait until around jump 100 before i try it too, i don't know how distracting it'll be until i try it and it's better to be safe than sorry. But i'm still keen on giving it a go at some point.
From what i've read about noise-cancelling, i am expecting to be able to have the music at a lower level (possibly at a level that i can listen to in the plane and under canopy but maybe too quiet to hear in freefall) and that the dytter bleeps will be beyond it's sound dampening range and so (mostly) unaffected.
But it's all theory until someone tries it out. Anyone?

As for listening to the PIC though, there is a sheet of perspex in our plane that takes care of that! He can talk to one person via PTT but other than that, communication consists of fist thuds, over-the-shoulder disjointed sign language and shouting mostly mis-interpreted messages through a little slot!

BTW, nice touch with the champers but don't you do the undy hundy over there?