Presenters of ITV4’s coverage of the Tour de France used a new hearing protection system from LimitEar, to ensure they could hear all their cues, despite high noise levels, writes David Fox.
Its main presenters, Gary Imlach and Ned Boulting, used AdaptEar for the duration of the three-week race.
“When the excitement mounts, voices get raised and the total noise in our earpieces can get quite high, as you would expect. AdaptEar let me hear everything clearly whilst keeping volumes at a comfortable level,” said Imlach.
Broadcasting live from the stage finish towns across France, he had to be able to hear communications and cues. AdaptEar allowed him to do this, and protected him from the potential dangers of acoustic shock. It connects between the radio and the earpiece and protects users from high sound levels whilst allowing normal noises through with no attenuation or distortion.
Boulting interviews cyclists after they cross the finish line. “Doing live interviews with the cyclists on the tour means that I have to have reliable communications. With AdaptEar I could listen to both Walkie Talkie (to communicate with my cameraman) and Talkback simultaneously to ensure that I got my cues,” he explained.
Other members of the live team also used AdaptEar during the coverage. The large number of radio devices in operation sometimes causes interference in other users communications and AdaptEar protected the team from any unexpected transients that might have occurred.
AdaptEar can be connected to radios, communication systems and earpieces from all major brands. It uses patented technology, and is LimitEar’s first product.
The photograph of Imlach using his AdaptEar was taken by Olympic gold medal winner and world champion cyclist Chris Boardman, who is also a member of the ITV4 team.