Active hearing protection system and method

A hearing protection system comprising a first hearing protection device adapted for at least one of to be worn at a person's right outer ear and to be worn at least in part in said person's right ear canal and a second hearing protection device adapted for at least one of to be worn at said person's left outer ear and to be worn at least in part in said person's left ear canal, each hearing protection device comprising an active unit comprising an acoustic input transducer for converting ambient sound into input audio signals, and an acoustic output transducer for transforming filtered audio signals into sound perceivable by said user, wherein at least one of said active units comprises an audio signal processing unit for processing said input audio signals into said filtered audio signals;

• wherein each hearing protection device is adapted to provide for an acoustic attenuation of at least 10 dB averaged over an audible frequency range when worn by said person;
• wherein said audio signal processing unit comprises an analyzer module for determining an intensity of said input audio signals separately for a plurality of spectral classes, a judgement module for judging, depending on said determined spectral intensities of said input digital audio signals, which one of a plurality of predetermined criteria is presently fulfilled by said input audio signals, and a filter module having adaptive frequency and time domain filter settings, depending on a judgement made by said judgement module, for producing said filtered audio signals, said judgement being adapted to detect close speech;
• and
• wherein said filter settings are selected by said judgement module such that said filter settings provide for a transparent mode if said judgement module judges that no noise is present, for a first attenuation mode if said judgement module judges that noise without close speech is present, and for a second attenuation mode if said judgement module judges that noise with close speech is present.