Yes, Racing is a Noisy Hobby Too

Today was the 92nd Running of the Indianapolis 500 and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Scott Dixon won the race after leading 115 out of 200 laps with the #9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Car to become the first New Zealander to win the Indy 500. As I was watching Dixon take his helmet after pulling into Victory Circle, I noticed him pull out in-the-ear monitors and throw them on the ground. Obviously the camera's fixed on Dixon, but I noticed the the monitors had a couple of cords and someone in the crew immediately picked them up off the ground. I did some digging and found out on the IRL website that the monitors not only give the driver the crew radio, but also include the Delphi Earpiece Sensor System. This system has a series of 3 accelerometers that gather vertical, lateral and longitudinal G-forces on the driver's head on the moment of impact. The earpiece sends the data to the car's 'black box.' Some pretty nice earpieces: Attenuate (some: racing is LOUD) noise, communication headset, and head impact data all in one.
UPDATE 6/4/08: Found out the earmold/headphone provider for the IRL headsets is Sensaphonics. The headphones are e-Racer 500's.











Also, in the mood of racing I found these:

That's right, they're ear plugs that look like spark plugs. The company Just Plugs' mission is to develop, manufacture, and sell high quality ornamental hearing protection. Check out their MySpace page, as it shows pics of how they look in the ears. Talk about ornamental, they look like the bolts coming out of Frankenstein's monster! They apparently have a 30 dB noise reduction rating, but no frequency attenuation information is listed on the site.