If you’ve ever been disturbed by wind noise and the resulting lack of situational awareness while out riding, Helmet Angel might have the solution for you with its unique-looking ear protectors.
Designed to shield your ears, the clam-like accoutrements are claimed to reduce wind noise and minimise turbulence around your ears, thus improving your ability to hear traffic as well as your ability to converse with fellow riders.
As you move along, your head and your ears cause turbulence in the airflow around you and the rapidly varying pressure inherent to this generates what you perceive as wind noise. That’s reduced by redirecting the airflow and decelerating it around your ear.
Claims of Helmet Angel being a pioneering technology are perhaps a little far-fetched — a number of competitors have purported to do a similar thing already, such as these Cat-Ears BikeRadar tested a few years ago. Uniquely, Helmet Angel uses a hard plastic “shell-like” design to redirect wind flow and an inner cushion to attenuate wind noise.
Of course, adding an accessory to your helmet represents a whole aerodynamic conundrum. I somehow doubt any of these devices are #aerogainz approved.
It also remains to be seen how riders will feel about having a pair of mollusc-like objects strapped to the sides of their helmets. Other designs do appear to look slightly more streamlined.
On the other hand, it doesn’t seem too far a stretch to imagine helmet manufacturers incorporating such technology out of the box (and presumably refining the look too) if there does turn out to be significant market demand.
You can check out the Helmet Angel website for more information, or any of its competitors including Cat-Ears, Slipstreamz and Windblox