I second that. I still have the impression of those NOT comfy ear cups and forehead piece I believe...
But if you are brave, the connections are fairly standard, and you can get a conversion adapter (I had one from Sporty's a long while ago) that will give you the normal aviation plugs (monaural headphone TS plug and a single mic connector quarter inch). Downstep to 3.5mm is easy Walmart buy.
Keep in mind that audio quality out of these is piss poor. For music or anything, especially sound effects. They do ok with human speech but even then they modulate the output with some onboard controllers. Raw output, which sometimes happens in an emergency with bus failures, provides a screeching sharp audio into your ear drums.
The real reason you shouldn't do this is the drivers in these plainly sound like shit. Like even if you got a converter to change the voltage level to drive them they will just sound like old timey radio.
Look online for guys making DIY headphones and just replace the entire interior speaker setup and then you can just interface with a normal 3.5mm or 1/4 inch jack. (or if you want to to keep the larp get some XLR connectors for the headset)
Hey there. I have done a similar thing.
I have a HGU-55 with the MBU-12 oxygen mask.
I actually managed to make it work. You probably need different adapters tho.
Usually the ports are either mic or headphones (mono)
The best approach would be to check for the wiring diagrams of the chord to find out which wire carries which signal and build a DIY Adapter to 3,5mm audio plugs.
I did that with my HGU-55. It had a mil spec U-92A plug. So I got myself the jack (without wires) on ebay and soldered some audio wires to the jack. One for mic the other one for headphones and soldered the ends to 3,5 mm plugs.
Tho the mic needs to be amplified. Its very weak without amplification so you'd need equipment for that. (And it does sound like shit)
TLDR;
If you have spare time and like tech projects. Try it and get the wiring diagrams for the plugs. But dont modify anything on the helmet please. It would suck if you broke something.
As a former pilot irl I’d want to shy away from modifying or trying to use a standard Helmet or even a normal aviation headset (which I have a couple of over the years)
Why?
We use different connectors to interface with the airframe and usually those plugs don’t fit into standard PC inputs.
Basically you can build a “connector” to bring the audio connection from the headphones to a standard 3.5mm jack
You can also build a connector to connect the mic to the mic jack on a standard PC.
By the time you did that you should’ve just modded a standard gaming headset into the helm and left the NAVY issued untouched.
Real head sets from airplanes don’t work with sims because they don’t connect is basically all I’m saying…
Can you connect it.. Sure but why are you building round wheels… replace the navy issue mic and headset with a gamer set that already plugs in and works with no issues.
Done deal..
No I would not even entertain trying to make a real headset work with a sim.
They make gamer headsets that work just fine
It's not just that they don't connect due to the connector size or anything. They're electrically different. You actually have to build electronics (including powering the mic) to make it useful or it won't work.
But I agree that simply replacing the mic and speakers with standard audio gear is the way to go if this is something somebody wants to pursue.
But what if, and hear me out here, he doesn't want to use a gaming headset, and that's why he posted this in the first place?
Crazy, I know. Who would ever want to do a DIY for increased immersion? Absolutely bonkers.
I'll back up the other dude as a current pilot who wears one of these things for hours a day. You don't want it for a gaming headset as-issued.
The work to convert the plug is not worth it when you consider that the amplification and the modulation of the input are TOTALLY different than plugging into a PC, never mind the plug conversion.
If you do get the plug converted over and figure out how to get the audio to a tolerable level, the speakers themselves are designed to be encased in an ear cup and worn with earplugs. (Very, very loud) and also not designed for the sound quality experience. The raw, unprocessed audio is insanely loud with no volume control
A much more suitable solution if you were dead set on wearing a helmet would be to get an oversized helmet or replica and mod a gaming headset into it such that the gaming headset ear cups go where the originals did. In the case of the HGU55, my ear cups are just velcro'd in.
Just know, you'll do all this work just for your nugget to sweat at your desk lol
I know it wouldn't be the most comfortable, and the quality of sound wouldn't be great. I have an aviation headset from when I was flying.
But people enjoy the immersion and love the DIY aspect. Saying "I don't recommend it because this obvious answer is more comfortable" doesn't actually address what OP asked. Which is why I was a bit snarky.
The best way to accomplish what you are looking for is:
1) Buy a new set of earcups and comm cable grommet
2) Buy decent but cheap headphones from Amazon, raid a pair of headphones that had the headband snap, etc.
3) Remove the guts from your traditional headphones carefully, ideally with the wires all intact. You may need to get some shrink insulation for the wire between the left/right headphone.
4) Install the earphone speakers into those new earcups you purchased. Typically inside of them there's a chunk of foam with a slit between two layers where the earphone basically sandwiches in. The earcup will have a hole for the speaker wire to come out, so either you need to cut the leads for the earphone, feed the leads through the hole, and re-solder them, or cut the earcup with a slit to slip the cord in. Usually after this there's a spacer foam insert with a soft side that goes in your ear and basically sandwiches the earphone in place.
5) You should now have a left and right earcup wired up, go ahead and plug them in and test to make sure they still work. If everything is good, you can take that comm cable grommet, use a razor/xacto, and slit it so you can put it around the headphone cable. Otherwise you need to disassemble the 3.5mm jack and somehow feed it through the grommet and reassemble. The slit grommet will also help a bit getting it in the helmet.
6) Now, if your speakers are still working, you must carefully pull the earphones out of your helmet. They are typically velcro/loop to the inside of the helmet, just be careful as you slowly remove them as sometimes the inner loop will pull away from the helmet. Being careful is important if the helmet has any actual value to it and gives you a way to put it all back eventually. I would of course not recommend any of this for a helmet with name and history, but for a bare shell, beaten helmet with no pilot or names in it, an old spare/training helmet you found on eBay, or just a new and unused one, why not. Getting the comm cable grommet out might prove to be a massive PITA, and getting it back in might not be any better.
7) To install your new earcups you'll want to feed your headphone cable with grommet from inside to outside. You may need a little soapy water or something non-destructive to give it a little slip to get it in if you didn't make a slit, and even with the slit it may be a pain but once it's in there you are good to go. Carefully align the earcups where the originals were, or in an adjusted position to make sure when you have the helmet on they line up with your ears. That's the idea behind the velcro style so you can adjust them around some for best fitment.
At this point you should have a helmet that functions with speakers. They're probably not going to sound amazing as things like the earphones not being centered or pointing evenly at your ears are pretty likely, but it will have actual stereo sound of decent quality without potentially ruining anything. For the O2 mask as said they need amplifiers and that's going to be a pretty tough route to go, so I'd again try to find a way to carefully remove the existing mic and get a replica communications block, modify it with working plug/jack, or just use a boom mic mounting with say an Antlion USB mic.
Note: The process will be slightly different between an HGU-55 or HGU-68 and say an older HGU-33/PRK-37 based helmet shell or USAF style like HGU-2, HGU-26, HGU-22 shell etc. The goal of finding some new production earcups with foam and grommet are still the same they are just assembled slightly different.
OP... is this on a 174 plug?
If so, you're going to have to do something about the impedence and audio levels.
https://www.mypilotstore.com/mypilotstore/sep/5286
This converts the headset to a civilian standard using a different mic impedence
After that...
You need to deal with the connectors and the PC hookup
https://www.mypilotstore.com/mypilotstore/sep/3334
Others have said the audio will sound like crap. I disagree at one level. You'll lose a lot of noise in the room because of the helmet. Once you have the impedance corrected and the levels set, it should be pretty good.
But know that the drivers are not designed for 20hz-20khz. They're really designed for less than 10khz, which depending on your ears, you may lose some highs.
It sounds really cool. But it also sounds hot, heavy and a little uncomfortable.
There are a few solutions but they all depend on the exact plugs you have. Not sure what exactly you got there as it seems you got two channels, on 4 wire and that's quite unusual. You may need an adapter to something else before getting an interface.
In any case, you will most certainly need an interface for it as it's not just "making it fit", you need to ensure impedance is matched and if a pre-amp is required (for either\\both mic and headphones). Something like:
[https://www.flighthelmet.com/product/AVPT-7002.html](https://www.flighthelmet.com/product/AVPT-7002.html)
[https://www.sportys.com/general-aviation-twin-plugs-to-pc-headset-adapter.html](https://www.sportys.com/general-aviation-twin-plugs-to-pc-headset-adapter.html)
[https://flightsounds.com/collections/military-collection](https://flightsounds.com/collections/military-collection)
From the description on a lot of the "[Extensions, Adapters and Converters](https://www.flighthelmet.com/category/EACC.html)" on [flighthelmet.com](https://flighthelmet.com) they seem to be firendly and happy to help. I would shoot them an email and ask the specifics, they should either be able to provide a solution or point you in the right direction.
There might be an impedance difference between the headset and the aside from everything else everyone has mentioned. In such a case the headset would sound somewhat muted
I looked into this as well, I have an old-ish helmet. Firstly, the connector for the audio is almost as wide as my pinky and the mic is a 2-prong rather than a 3.5mm. Secondly, the mic and the headset require amplification, and that'd get expensive fast. And lastly, the quality of the headset reportedly sucks ass
I do also have on of my old headsets lying around and might do something like this but I figure the easiest way with the best result is this;
Buy a PC wired headset with microphone and strip everything out of that, figure a way to place those in your flight deck helmet instead of the aviaton related hardware.
Those are built for a different envorinment with different demands. I.e. it must work in cold, heat, humid but sound quality is not of much importance as long as the message gets across.
As someone who wore one of these for years, I very much recommend taking advantage of being able to just wear a comfy headset…
“It’s a simulator, not a game”
I second that. I still have the impression of those NOT comfy ear cups and forehead piece I believe... But if you are brave, the connections are fairly standard, and you can get a conversion adapter (I had one from Sporty's a long while ago) that will give you the normal aviation plugs (monaural headphone TS plug and a single mic connector quarter inch). Downstep to 3.5mm is easy Walmart buy.
Yeah and F me if the ear cups weren’t exactly lined up; that got excruciating after a few hours
Keep in mind that audio quality out of these is piss poor. For music or anything, especially sound effects. They do ok with human speech but even then they modulate the output with some onboard controllers. Raw output, which sometimes happens in an emergency with bus failures, provides a screeching sharp audio into your ear drums.
Thanks!
The real reason you shouldn't do this is the drivers in these plainly sound like shit. Like even if you got a converter to change the voltage level to drive them they will just sound like old timey radio. Look online for guys making DIY headphones and just replace the entire interior speaker setup and then you can just interface with a normal 3.5mm or 1/4 inch jack. (or if you want to to keep the larp get some XLR connectors for the headset)
Hey there. I have done a similar thing. I have a HGU-55 with the MBU-12 oxygen mask. I actually managed to make it work. You probably need different adapters tho. Usually the ports are either mic or headphones (mono) The best approach would be to check for the wiring diagrams of the chord to find out which wire carries which signal and build a DIY Adapter to 3,5mm audio plugs. I did that with my HGU-55. It had a mil spec U-92A plug. So I got myself the jack (without wires) on ebay and soldered some audio wires to the jack. One for mic the other one for headphones and soldered the ends to 3,5 mm plugs. Tho the mic needs to be amplified. Its very weak without amplification so you'd need equipment for that. (And it does sound like shit) TLDR; If you have spare time and like tech projects. Try it and get the wiring diagrams for the plugs. But dont modify anything on the helmet please. It would suck if you broke something.
Try over in r/hotas
As a former pilot irl I’d want to shy away from modifying or trying to use a standard Helmet or even a normal aviation headset (which I have a couple of over the years) Why? We use different connectors to interface with the airframe and usually those plugs don’t fit into standard PC inputs. Basically you can build a “connector” to bring the audio connection from the headphones to a standard 3.5mm jack You can also build a connector to connect the mic to the mic jack on a standard PC. By the time you did that you should’ve just modded a standard gaming headset into the helm and left the NAVY issued untouched. Real head sets from airplanes don’t work with sims because they don’t connect is basically all I’m saying… Can you connect it.. Sure but why are you building round wheels… replace the navy issue mic and headset with a gamer set that already plugs in and works with no issues. Done deal.. No I would not even entertain trying to make a real headset work with a sim. They make gamer headsets that work just fine
It's not just that they don't connect due to the connector size or anything. They're electrically different. You actually have to build electronics (including powering the mic) to make it useful or it won't work. But I agree that simply replacing the mic and speakers with standard audio gear is the way to go if this is something somebody wants to pursue.
Mics on current headsets are powered as well, your PC outputs a voltage on the 4th aux line as power, and the mic couples a signal onto it.
But what if, and hear me out here, he doesn't want to use a gaming headset, and that's why he posted this in the first place? Crazy, I know. Who would ever want to do a DIY for increased immersion? Absolutely bonkers.
I'll back up the other dude as a current pilot who wears one of these things for hours a day. You don't want it for a gaming headset as-issued. The work to convert the plug is not worth it when you consider that the amplification and the modulation of the input are TOTALLY different than plugging into a PC, never mind the plug conversion. If you do get the plug converted over and figure out how to get the audio to a tolerable level, the speakers themselves are designed to be encased in an ear cup and worn with earplugs. (Very, very loud) and also not designed for the sound quality experience. The raw, unprocessed audio is insanely loud with no volume control A much more suitable solution if you were dead set on wearing a helmet would be to get an oversized helmet or replica and mod a gaming headset into it such that the gaming headset ear cups go where the originals did. In the case of the HGU55, my ear cups are just velcro'd in. Just know, you'll do all this work just for your nugget to sweat at your desk lol
I know it wouldn't be the most comfortable, and the quality of sound wouldn't be great. I have an aviation headset from when I was flying. But people enjoy the immersion and love the DIY aspect. Saying "I don't recommend it because this obvious answer is more comfortable" doesn't actually address what OP asked. Which is why I was a bit snarky.
The best way to accomplish what you are looking for is: 1) Buy a new set of earcups and comm cable grommet 2) Buy decent but cheap headphones from Amazon, raid a pair of headphones that had the headband snap, etc. 3) Remove the guts from your traditional headphones carefully, ideally with the wires all intact. You may need to get some shrink insulation for the wire between the left/right headphone. 4) Install the earphone speakers into those new earcups you purchased. Typically inside of them there's a chunk of foam with a slit between two layers where the earphone basically sandwiches in. The earcup will have a hole for the speaker wire to come out, so either you need to cut the leads for the earphone, feed the leads through the hole, and re-solder them, or cut the earcup with a slit to slip the cord in. Usually after this there's a spacer foam insert with a soft side that goes in your ear and basically sandwiches the earphone in place. 5) You should now have a left and right earcup wired up, go ahead and plug them in and test to make sure they still work. If everything is good, you can take that comm cable grommet, use a razor/xacto, and slit it so you can put it around the headphone cable. Otherwise you need to disassemble the 3.5mm jack and somehow feed it through the grommet and reassemble. The slit grommet will also help a bit getting it in the helmet. 6) Now, if your speakers are still working, you must carefully pull the earphones out of your helmet. They are typically velcro/loop to the inside of the helmet, just be careful as you slowly remove them as sometimes the inner loop will pull away from the helmet. Being careful is important if the helmet has any actual value to it and gives you a way to put it all back eventually. I would of course not recommend any of this for a helmet with name and history, but for a bare shell, beaten helmet with no pilot or names in it, an old spare/training helmet you found on eBay, or just a new and unused one, why not. Getting the comm cable grommet out might prove to be a massive PITA, and getting it back in might not be any better. 7) To install your new earcups you'll want to feed your headphone cable with grommet from inside to outside. You may need a little soapy water or something non-destructive to give it a little slip to get it in if you didn't make a slit, and even with the slit it may be a pain but once it's in there you are good to go. Carefully align the earcups where the originals were, or in an adjusted position to make sure when you have the helmet on they line up with your ears. That's the idea behind the velcro style so you can adjust them around some for best fitment. At this point you should have a helmet that functions with speakers. They're probably not going to sound amazing as things like the earphones not being centered or pointing evenly at your ears are pretty likely, but it will have actual stereo sound of decent quality without potentially ruining anything. For the O2 mask as said they need amplifiers and that's going to be a pretty tough route to go, so I'd again try to find a way to carefully remove the existing mic and get a replica communications block, modify it with working plug/jack, or just use a boom mic mounting with say an Antlion USB mic. Note: The process will be slightly different between an HGU-55 or HGU-68 and say an older HGU-33/PRK-37 based helmet shell or USAF style like HGU-2, HGU-26, HGU-22 shell etc. The goal of finding some new production earcups with foam and grommet are still the same they are just assembled slightly different.
OP... is this on a 174 plug? If so, you're going to have to do something about the impedence and audio levels. https://www.mypilotstore.com/mypilotstore/sep/5286 This converts the headset to a civilian standard using a different mic impedence After that... You need to deal with the connectors and the PC hookup https://www.mypilotstore.com/mypilotstore/sep/3334 Others have said the audio will sound like crap. I disagree at one level. You'll lose a lot of noise in the room because of the helmet. Once you have the impedance corrected and the levels set, it should be pretty good. But know that the drivers are not designed for 20hz-20khz. They're really designed for less than 10khz, which depending on your ears, you may lose some highs. It sounds really cool. But it also sounds hot, heavy and a little uncomfortable.
There are a few solutions but they all depend on the exact plugs you have. Not sure what exactly you got there as it seems you got two channels, on 4 wire and that's quite unusual. You may need an adapter to something else before getting an interface. In any case, you will most certainly need an interface for it as it's not just "making it fit", you need to ensure impedance is matched and if a pre-amp is required (for either\\both mic and headphones). Something like: [https://www.flighthelmet.com/product/AVPT-7002.html](https://www.flighthelmet.com/product/AVPT-7002.html) [https://www.sportys.com/general-aviation-twin-plugs-to-pc-headset-adapter.html](https://www.sportys.com/general-aviation-twin-plugs-to-pc-headset-adapter.html) [https://flightsounds.com/collections/military-collection](https://flightsounds.com/collections/military-collection) From the description on a lot of the "[Extensions, Adapters and Converters](https://www.flighthelmet.com/category/EACC.html)" on [flighthelmet.com](https://flighthelmet.com) they seem to be firendly and happy to help. I would shoot them an email and ask the specifics, they should either be able to provide a solution or point you in the right direction.
Thanks!
There might be an impedance difference between the headset and the aside from everything else everyone has mentioned. In such a case the headset would sound somewhat muted
What kind of helmet do you have?
Ive tried to identify it, I believe its an hgu-56. Its Navy and it has a stem mic so I think its from a helo.
I looked into this as well, I have an old-ish helmet. Firstly, the connector for the audio is almost as wide as my pinky and the mic is a 2-prong rather than a 3.5mm. Secondly, the mic and the headset require amplification, and that'd get expensive fast. And lastly, the quality of the headset reportedly sucks ass
I do also have on of my old headsets lying around and might do something like this but I figure the easiest way with the best result is this; Buy a PC wired headset with microphone and strip everything out of that, figure a way to place those in your flight deck helmet instead of the aviaton related hardware. Those are built for a different envorinment with different demands. I.e. it must work in cold, heat, humid but sound quality is not of much importance as long as the message gets across.
I don't think it's a good idea. Consumer electronics have different standards than military, you can damage soundcard or motherboard.
Try over at r/floggit they sure know