Ukswrath hearing assist-how are others installing it?

[Sgtangel]

Hi there

Before I commit to installing mine I was would be interested to see how others have done it, especially the location of the microphones. Can any one assist?

Edited August 12, 2019 by Sgtangel
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[ukswrath[Staff]]

Hey Andy, there are a few places you can mount the mics.

1. If you're not using any type of audio system or cooling fans you can place them behind the frown.

2. With audio or cooling place the mics near the lower "S" seal of the helmet, left and right sides aimed towards your neck. And famously behind the ears but requires a little work.

 

Hope this helps

[Sgtangel]

Thank you Tony. I do like the idea of putting them in the ear bumps. Just trying to find a USB splitter that will allow my 1 port charger to run both my fans and the hearing assist (I think I might have to end up buying a 2 port charger though)

[ukswrath[Staff]]

My pleasure. The SHA operates best with it's own battery. Most fans by design create PWM noise that can effect the SHA output causing a whining noise in the speakers/headset. Something you might want to test before installing.

[Redcoat 35[501st]]

On 8/12/2019 at 2:07 PM, ukswrath said:

Hey Andy, there are a few places you can mount the mics.

1. If you're not using any type of audio system or cooling fans you can place them behind the frown.

2. With audio or cooling place the mics near the lower "S" seal of the helmet, left and right sides aimed towards your neck. And famously behind the ears but requires a little work.

 

Hope this helps

Hello Tony 

     I know this is an old post but finally installing  your Hearing Assist I bought last year  and I was wondering where is the lower S seal of the Helmet ?      Is that the Back of the helmet ?  point the mics towards the back of your neck ?   

 

Peter Bond 

TK 17570 

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Hey Peter, "S" seal is the black rubber seal at the lower rim of your helmet, well that's if were talking about OTTK armor. 

 

Mics can be placed anywhere at the lower rim facing towards your shoulders, or more towards the frown on. 

[Redcoat 35[501st]]

Roger that,  So that's also known as S seal.. ( I feel dumb now lol)  for some reason I feel like I should of known that..    I was was of thinking about placing the mics  there because I am a little scared about drilling hole in the bucket but was not sure how  well it would pick up the sound from the outside because it near the back then I saw your comment while searching white armor..  My Birthday is this Friday and my gift to myself  will be ordering a new hearing Assist for another Bucket coming from RS.  

 

Thanks Tony   

 

Peter

 

 

[ukswrath[Staff]]

2 hours ago, Redcoat 35 said:

Roger that,  So that's also known as S seal.. ( I feel dumb now lol)  for some reason I feel like I should of known that..    I was was of thinking about placing the mics  there because I am a little scared about drilling hole in the bucket but was not sure how  well it would pick up the sound from the outside because it near the back then I saw your comment while searching white armor..  My Birthday is this Friday and my gift to myself  will be ordering a new hearing Assist for another Bucket coming from RS.  

 

Thanks Tony   

 

Peter

 

 

Excellent, if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. Enjoy

[fishgoh0nk[TK]]

On 5/11/2020 at 7:55 PM, ukswrath said:

Excellent, if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. Enjoy

Hey Tony, I was testing the SHA with fans, but the mics appear to pick up a lot of inner helmet noise, and overwhelms the external sounds at distance (5-10ft). Would you recommend any sealings, padding around the mics to reduce the pickup? I have them installed at the ears, 3 holes drilled at the black ear stripe.

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Ola! Depending where you install them yes insulation may be needed. In the ears you might be picking up the fans transferring through the plastic, the fans themselves are pretty quiet. You can try adding some insulation at the mics (wire side), or if they're not permanently glued you can add foam or electrical tape around the mic then reinstall. Something to prevent the mic contacting the helmet itself.

 

Let me know if any of these help. 

[fishgoh0nk[TK]]

22 hours ago, ukswrath said:

Ola! Depending where you install them yes insulation may be needed. In the ears you might be picking up the fans transferring through the plastic, the fans themselves are pretty quiet. You can try adding some insulation at the mics (wire side), or if they're not permanently glued you can add foam or electrical tape around the mic then reinstall. Something to prevent the mic contacting the helmet itself.

 

Let me know if any of these help. 

 

Thanks for the info - I think the fact the mics are omnidirectional and not encapsulated, the pressure and vibrations can't be helped by just glue/padding. I created a panel to isolate the microphones in the ears.

 

 

Unfortunately the mics that come with the kit are a little too tall for this application - and I think the SNR is a little too low. I'm planning on modding them with unidirection/cardioids with a higher SNR and lower sensitivity. I don't have a reference or baseline for the current ones, @ukswrathwould you be willing to share the specs of the mics? If not public, maybe PM? 

Edited June 14, 2021 by fishgoh0nk

[fishgoh0nk[TK]]

On 6/13/2021 at 9:14 PM, fishgoh0nk said:

 

Thanks for the info - I think the fact the mics are omnidirectional and not encapsulated, the pressure and vibrations can't be helped by just glue/padding. I created a panel to isolate the microphones in the ears.

 

 

Unfortunately the mics that come with the kit are a little too tall for this application - and I think the SNR is a little too low. I'm planning on modding them with unidirection/cardioids with a higher SNR and lower sensitivity. I don't have a reference or baseline for the current ones, @ukswrathwould you be willing to share the specs of the mics? If not public, maybe PM? 

 

Fixed the issue - the microphones that come with the SHA works great once I added foam padding between the mic and helmet walls to prevent excessive vibration. I also created some baffles to isolate the microphones from the rest of the cavity, so there's minimal pressure loss/increase from ports other than the three I drill in the ears.

 

So I have Helmet | Velcro (for internal speakers) | ( Rubber Grommet) | Foam | microphone enclosure | Foam around the enclosure | ears | 3x 1mm holes drilled

I think after added the extra padding, the taper around the ears are no longer satisfactory, I ordered some new ears from trooper bay which I will install - I'll take some pictures of what I've done when I do that. Keep an eye out

Edited June 21, 2021 by fishgoh0nk

[ukswrath[Staff]]

12 minutes ago, fishgoh0nk said:

 

Fixed the issue - the microphones that come with the SHA works great once I added foam padding between the mic and helmet walls to prevent excessive vibration. I also created some baffles to isolate the microphones from the rest of the cavity, so there's minimal pressure loss/increase from ports other than the three I drill in the ears.

 

So I have Helmet | Velcro (for internal speakers) | ( Rubber Grommet) | Foam | microphone enclosure | Foam around the enclosure | ears | 3x 1mm holes drilled

I think after added the extra padding, the taper around the ears are no longer satisfactory, I ordered some new ears from trooper bay which I will install - I'll take some pictures of what I've done when I do that. Keep an eye out

 

Great job James and thanks for updating us with this information. Troopers Helping Troopers 

[CallMeMrTibbles[501st]]

Hey Peter, "S" seal is the black rubber seal at the lower rim of your helmet, well that's if were talking about OTTK armor. 
 
Mics can be placed anywhere at the lower rim facing towards your shoulders, or more towards the frown on. 

Hi Tony,
Do you have any pics (maybe from customers) where the mics are by the s seal?

I'm nervous about drilling extra holes, and if this methods works I'd rather do it this way.

Thanks,
Rich

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[ukswrath[Staff]]

Hey Rich you don't have to drill any holes to mount the mics. Simply use hot glue, tape of velcro. Many customers have gotten creative when it comes to mic placement but it's not necessary or required to drill holes. 

[CallMeMrTibbles[501st]]

Thanks Tony

I was meaning was nervous drilling holes to mount at the ears.

Might be a moot point as my large head isn't leaving much room to mount the mic amp, so I'm considering mounting to the inside of the chest and having the mics attached to the top of the neck gaiter (will test before anything permanent).

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[fishgoh0nk[TK]]

29 minutes ago, CallMeMrTibbles said:

Thanks Tony

I was meaning was nervous drilling holes to mount at the ears.

Might be a moot point as my large head isn't leaving much room to mount the mic amp, so I'm considering mounting to the inside of the chest and having the mics attached to the top of the neck gaiter (will test before anything permanent).

Sent from my SM-A715F using Tapatalk
 

 

If you're curious, I'm probably one of the few people that drilled holes in the helmet to fit the mics. I drilled a 3/4 1/2 inch hole and used a grommet to secure the mic to the inner helmet wall. After posting here and adding insulation/baffles, the mics now reside inside the ear piece, outside of the inner helmet to avoid fan vibration, so I have fans mounted on the cheeks.

 

Here are some pictures, albeit out of date.

 

Planning, using grommets

 

 

(again, not current method, mic installed with grommet)

 

 

 

I figured it's best to show and tell - I took apart my current ear set up to show

 

 

Foam padding is crucial between mic and ear, cut the vibration sounds by 25%

 

This is what sits in the ear

 

Used hand drills to drill out the ear ports along the black stripe. Per recommendation a superfine permanent marker/sharpie works good to black out the holes.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 22, 2021 by fishgoh0nk
diameter

[CallMeMrTibbles[501st]]

 
If you're curious, I'm probably one of the few people that drilled holes in the helmet to fit the mics. I drilled a 3/4 1/2 inch hole and used a grommet to secure the mic to the inner helmet wall. After posting here and adding insulation/baffles, the mics now reside inside the ear piece, outside of the inner helmet to avoid fan vibration, so I have fans mounted on the cheeks.
 
Here are some pictures, albeit out of date.
 
Planning, using grommets

 

 
(again, not current method, mic installed with grommet)

 

 
 
I figured it's best to show and tell - I took apart my current ear set up to show
 

 
Foam padding is crucial between mic and ear, cut the vibration sounds by 25%

 
This is what sits in the ear

 
Used hand drills to drill out the ear ports along the black stripe. Per recommendation a superfine permanent marker/sharpie works good to black out the holes.
 

 
 
 

Awesome setup. Thanks for all the pics and words. I wondered from earlier posts how you ended up doing it.

How is it in practice when trooping?

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[fishgoh0nk[TK]]

11 minutes ago, CallMeMrTibbles said:

Awesome setup. Thanks for all the pics and words. I wondered from earlier posts how you ended up doing it.

How is it in practice when trooping?

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Haven't trooped with it yet - I only completed the hearing assist installation 2 days ago, in fact, I just completed the entire electronics set up 2 days ago. but I've been vehemently been walking around the house with it. With fans on, the hearing assist helps significantly with detecting my wife trying to talk to me. If I really want to shut her out, I'd just turn it off  

 

I could hear better if I wasn't using open air walkman style headphones (in ear or ear buds). In ear buds would be a lot louder and would help me attenuate the audio better, but I prefer the hands free approach so I don't have to shove ear buds in my head before plopping on the bucket. I've been taking off and putting back on the bucket and the earphones I'm currently using stay stationary. It's a rare occasion that the phones fold the top of my ear down, I just reach in and fix it. 

 

 

Here's one more photo of the grommet (old grommet sliced in half to reduce profile height, adheres to the velcro strip)

Edited June 22, 2021 by fishgoh0nk

[CallMeMrTibbles[501st]]

I've been testing mine out using some custom molded in ears from my musician days, and the biggest pain is figuring out how to get the cable to stay inside the helmet

Was looking at going for in helmet speakers same as yours. Things like that I had in old motorbike helmets weren't much good, but I guess it's a trade off of ease versus performance.

Think I'll do as you have and mount the mics in the ears (not that I've found somewhere in the lid for the amp), but will wait until I've got my centurian status sorted; fingers crossed a couple of weeks.

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[CallMeMrTibbles[501st]]

Do you get feedback between the earphones and the mic to amplify your voice? (If you use that)

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[fishgoh0nk[TK]]

46 minutes ago, CallMeMrTibbles said:

Do you get feedback between the earphones and the mic to amplify your voice? (If you use that)

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I did not, but it's probably because the headphones I'm using aren't loud enough. They're a $6.99 pair from Amazon by KOSS. In my initial testing I didn't account for that, I was using wired ear buds and had my fingers crossed regarding hearing assist feedback.

 

My voice amplifier for the Aker did have feedback with the  Hovi speakers, which I fixed with a -54dB noise canceling mic soldered into a ModMic 3 boom. -50dB noise canceling at mid line volume (mod mics have inline adjustment) gave me feedback from the Hovi speakers. Now I"m running -54dB at max line volume, but I basically have to touch the mic with my lips with no mic foam to get a pickup. 

Edited June 22, 2021 by fishgoh0nk

[CallMeMrTibbles[501st]]

Don't have a voice changer yet, but I think I'm edging towards having it all chest mounted. Partly because of feedback, but mostly because of room in my helmet. Cant have anything between top of my head and the lid or it raises the helmet up too high!

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[CallMeMrTibbles[501st]]

there are a few places you can mount the mics...

Hi again Tony,
Have you ever tried mounting the mics inside your hovi tips? Could your hovi tip speakers work in reverse as poor man's mics?
Thanks,
Rich

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[CallMeMrTibbles[501st]]

Got my kit installed behind the ears. Hope this helps someone













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