A sound attenuating earcup assembly having ambient communication capability without the necessity of removing the assembly in which a cup or shell adapted to fit over the wearer's ear is made of a relatively hard sound attenuating material and is formed with three wall openings each extending from the outer surface of the shell to the interior and each of which is provided with an external countersink. The first opening receives the battery casing having an externally removable cover which holds the casing onto the shell with its terminals located within the shell. The second opening receives the outside communication unit with the microphone facing outwardly and the major portion of the unit and its terminals retained inside the shell by a detachable fastener. The switch actuating element extends outwardly through the third opening from the body of the switch carrying the switch terminals. A protective sleeve screwed onto a portion of the switch post to hold the switch in position surrounds the actuator to reduce the possibility of accidental actuation. The earphone is disposed in a recess in a pad of sound absorbing material in the shell. Where the assemblies are used in pairs for a binaural effect only one assembly is provided with a switch. Means is provided for connecting the earcup carried elements to external electronics so as to charge said battery from a power source in said external electronics.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 150,159, filed May 15, 1980, which application was a continuation-in-part of my copending application Ser. No. 106,909, filed Dec. 26, 1979, both now abandoned.
Systems and techniques are disclosed for a headset that may be used in an audio system used in a magnetic field. In one aspect, the system includes an inner set portion adapted to fit into an ear canal. A pneumatic port is disposed in the hole to couple audible sounds to the ear canal. The system may include a non-magnetic transducer coupled to the pneumatic port. The system also may include a fiber-optic microphone to couple sound from a user of the headset. Other techniques provide a stethoscope-type yoke to couple the pneumatic port and the fiber-optic antenna to the non-magnetic transducer.
