Cap for use as hearing protection

1. A cap intended for use as hearing protection and adapted to enclose a user's external ear, characterized in that:

the cap ( 11 ) comprises a cap shell ( 15 ; 35 ) which supports at least one vibration-damping weight element ( 18 ; 38 a - b ), said weight element being arranged so as to at least partly block an audio mode of vibration that would have existed in the cap ( 11 ) in the absence of said weight element ( 18 ; 38 a - b ), wherein said at least one vibration-damping element ( 18 ; 38 a - b ) is placed on an antinode of the cap ( 11 ), which antinode would have existed in the cap in said mode of vibration in the absence of said weight element ( 18 ; 38 a - b ).

2. A cap as claimed in claim 1 , wherein at least one of said weight elements ( 18 ; 38 a - b ) has a first density and said cap shell ( 15 ; 35 ) has a second density, the first density being higher than the second density.

3. A cap as claimed in claim 1 or 2 , wherein at least one of said weight elements ( 18 ; 38 a - b ) is attached to the cap shell ( 15 ; 35 ) by said weight element ( 18 ; 38 a - b ) being at least partly molded into the cap shell ( 15 ; 35 ).

4. A cap as claimed in claim 1 , which cap ( 11 ) further comprises a bottom plate ( 16 ) which carries at least one of said weight elements ( 18 ; 38 a - b ).

5. A cap as claimed in claim 4 , wherein at least one of said weight elements ( 18 ; 38 a - b ) has a density which is higher than a density of the bottom plate ( 16 ).

6. A method of producing a cap intended for use as hearing protection, characterised by the steps of forming a cap ( 11 ) having a shell with inside and outside surfaces and designed to enclose most of a user's external ear, comprising:

arranging at least one vibration-damping weight element ( 18 ; 38 a - b ) on the cap ( 11 ) in such a manner that the weight element ( 18 ; 38 a - b ) at least partly blocks an audio mode of vibration that would have existed in the cap ( 11 ) in the absence of the weight element ( 18 ; 38 a - b ), the step of arranging said weight element ( 18 ; 38 a - b ) on the cap ( 11 ) comprising the step of arranging the weight element ( 18 ; 38 a - b ) on one of said surfaces of said cap shell ( 15 ; 35 ), wherein the step of arranging said weight element ( 18 ; 38 a - b ) on the cap ( 11 ) comprises the step of placing the weight element ( 18 ; 38 a - b ) on an antinode of the cap ( 11 ), which antinode would have existed in the cap ( 11 ) in said mode of vibration in the absence of the weight element ( 18 ; 38 a - b ).

7. A method as claimed in claim 6 , further comprising the step of giving at least one of said weight elements ( 18 ; 38 a - b ) a first density and said cap shell ( 15 ; 35 ) a second density, the first density being higher than the second density.

8. A method as claimed in claim 6 or 7 , wherein the step of arranging said weight element ( 18 ; 38 a - b ) in or on the cap ( 11 ) further comprises the step of securing at least one of said weight elements ( 18 ; 38 a - b ) to the cap shell ( 15 ; 35 ) by at least partly molding said weight element ( 18 ; 38 a - b ) into the cap shell ( 15 ; 35 ).

9. A method as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the step of arranging said weight element ( 18 ; 38 a - b ) on the cap ( 11 ) comprises the step of arranging the weight element ( 18 ; 38 a - b ) on a bottom plate ( 16 ) of the cap ( 11 ).

10. A method as claimed in claim 9 , further comprising the step of giving at least one of said weight elements ( 18 ; 38 a - b ) a density which is higher than a density of the bottom plate ( 16 ).

11. A hearing protector for hearing protection, which includes a first cap that lies against an ear of a person, wherein said first cap includes a shell with a closed rear wall that is furthest from the person's ear and an open front and an elastic seal ring that extends around said open front, wherein:

said first cap includes a first shell that is formed of polymer material having a density of no more than 2;

said first cap also includes a discrete weight member of material at least twice as dense as the material of said first shell, said discrete weight member being fixed to a location on said first shell, wherein said location where said discrete weight member is fixed to said first shell is a location where a sound wave node occurs at a predetermined sound frequency of at least one KHz when the weight member is not fixed to said location.

12. The hearing protector described in claim 11 wherein:

said weight member has a weight of at least 5% of the weight of said shell.

13. The hearing protector described in claim 11 wherein said shell includes closed opposite sides, a closed top, and closed bottom, that each has inside and outside surfaces and that each merges with said first shell rear wall, wherein:

said weight member is attached to said first shell rear wall.

14. The hearing protector described in claim 13 wherein:

said weight member is attached to a middle of said first shell rear wall.