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Sena Noise Control – Finally a Noise-Cancelling Helmet

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People who ride with me know that I’m obsessive about wearing earplugs, as nothing ruins your hearing better than a motorcycle helmet. If we cut the marketing BS, there is really no such thing as a quiet helmet, just helmets that are quieter than others…until now.

Behold, a noise-cancelling helmet is finally available to the masses, with the Sena Noise Control Helmet.

It is almost surprising that noise-cancellation technology has taken this long to come to the two-wheeled space, of course any industry veteran can tell you how slow to change the motorcycle industry is, even with established technologies.

Noise cancellation technology is so well-known right now, we doubt we even need to breakdown this announcement for you, but we will anyways. Because, Luddites.

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Sena is better known for its communication devices for motorcyclists, which makes them an obvious early-adopter for audio technology.

We can’t tell who Sena has partnered with to make the carbon fiber helmet shell and multi-layer EPS padding, though it looks like something NEXX would build, which is less than ideal, in our book. NEXX is one of the few DOT-approved helmet companies whose products I would refuse to wear, even for an evaluation.

That aside, the technology in the Sena Noise Control helmet is promising, and hopefully other helmet manufacturers will follow suit, so I can stop packing around my earplugs.

The setup works in a very straight forward way. The Sena Noise Control Helmet has built-in speakers and four arrayed microphones. Once activated, the system uses the inverse wave pattern of harmful noises, and uses them to zero-out harmful frequencies to your ears.

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If Sena’s chart above can be believed, a 20db reduction in noises across-the-board is a pretty good start, and akin to what a good-fitting earplug is achieving while in your ears.

Sena says its “Intelligent Noise Control” software still allows the rider to hear conversations, sirens, and the engine rev. Naturally, you can add-on one of Sena’s communicators, thus adding Bluetooth connectivity for music, phone calls, and peer-to-peer communication.

There’s no word yet on availability or pricing, but we hope to get you that information ASAP. It will be interesting to see who Sena partnered with on the helmet design and construction, as it’s unlikely Sena did it in-house.

Adding to the guessing game, Sena’s representatives at the AIMExpo told Asphalt & Rubber that they didn’t know who made the helmet shell…so…that’s confidence inspiring.

As always, helmet buyers at the higher price points tend to be picky about who protects their head. The market also doesn’t like vaporware, which helmet startup Skully is slowly starting to realize. This might be a lesson Sena learns the hard way as well, of course time will tell. Thanks for the tip Kye!

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Source: Sena

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