GADGET GURU’S MAGIC BOX

The fine folks at Flare spotted Guru talking about their ear adulterators last issue, and were kind enough to send him a couple of things to try. Note that Guru is an anxious man spooked by loud noises or too many voices going on at once, and he has also given himself some level of hearing damage and tinnitus via a misspent youth, so he’s basically the target market for this stuff.

First up, the Flare Audio Isolate 2s, a set of fancypants ear plugs. They’re a combination of a metal stalk which acts as some kind of acoustic baffle – in Guru’s case it’s the Natural Aluminium flavour, but coloured versions and a higher-end Titanium variety are available – and a foam tip which you jam into your ear hole. And they’re just about the best ear plugs GaGu has tried; there’s little of the ‘fluids sloshing about your own head’ sound that upsets him about many others, they’re genuinely comfortable even to sleep with, and they let just the subtlest sound in.

The most intriguing product, though, was Flare Audio’s Calmer... things. Waveguides? They’re little rubbery silicone doodads that you pop in your ear, which basically give sound a narrower channel through which to reach your ear drum. They’re designed to remove distortion from louder sounds, reducing the triggers and helping you to focus on the sounds you want to hear. And by golly these things work too, and they’re comfortable enough that Guru tends to forget about them after half an hour’s wearing. That’s great until you jam your little finger in your ear and find it occupied. There are claims that they can help some people with tinnitus, but sadly not for GaGu; his ears ring on.