Bose Celebrates 40 Years of ANR Aviation Headsets

Bose is celebrating 40 years of active noise reduction (ANR) aviation headsets, kicking off the effort this week at the Sun ‘n Fun (SNF) Aerospace Expo with a “40 Years, 40 Pilots” campaign. At its SNF booth, Bose is asking pilots to share their aviation stories (no mentions of headsets required) on video, which will later be posted to the company’s social media and other outlets. It plans to gather more stories at EAA AirVenture in July and potentially online.

Founder Amar Bose sketched the math for the ANR technology on a napkin while onboard a long-haul airline flight in 1978, but the company is using the Voyager flight in December 1986 as the marker for its ANR headsets. The Voyager crew used pre-production Bose ANR headsets on their record-setting 10-day nonstop flight around the world after a medical assessment found that the pilots would lose 20% of their hearing on the flight.

“Voyager was stripped down to reduce weight, and it had no soundproofing. It was like flying in a tin can,” Bose business development manager Chris Wuerfl told AIN. “The Bose ANR headsets prevented any crew hearing loss from happening.”

After the successful Voyager mission, Bose introduced its Series 1 aviation ANR earcup headset, eventually improving upon that with the A10, A20, and current-production A30 model. In 2018, it introduced the ProFlight ANR aviation headset for turbine pilots, followed by the current-production ProFlight Series 2 in 2019.

According to Wuerfl, Bose is running a promotion this week at SNF, where those purchasing a $1,299 A30 or $1,099 ProFlight headset during the show get a free Bose SoundLink Micro Bluetooth speaker. It is also offering a limited-time $300 trade-in credit for A20 headsets or ProFLight Series 2 that can be used toward purchasing an A30 model.