Metal Detecting: Pausing Breathing to hear faint signals

[rfwoodvt]

Been running into a bit of a conundrum while detecting especially around docks; between the waves on the docks, my air bubbles, and my regulator sounds, I'm having a hard time hearing my detector's signals and not just the faint ones.

I am keen to remember the adage "never hold your breath" while diving. So there's my conundrum. I can't hear what I need to hear unless I slow, pace, or pause my breathing.

So that is what I've been doing, I breath in at the beginning of my detector sweep, and breath out at the end of the sweep. Each sweep takes about two seconds. So basically I'm just regulating my breathing to one breath every 4 seconds, or 15 breaths/minute. Sometimes though, I hear a faint signal that I must concentrate on and unless I stop breathing for a few more seconds I can't hear it over the noise and isolate the signal.

So what's a diver to do? Under what conditions can I pause my breathing for more than a few seconds and what would be the best technique for doing so?

 

[elan]

Holding your breath and stopping breathing are different things. You can have the airway open even if you pause your breathing. The give that guideline because new divers cannot tell the difference between the two. If you are not ascending while stopping to breath its no risk at all. I often pause my breath for many seconds if I want to hear the environment

 

[TMHeimer]

Holding your breath and stopping breathing are different things. You can have the airway open even if you pause your breathing. The give that guideline because new divers cannot tell the difference between the two. If you are not ascending while stopping to breath its no risk at all. I often pause my breath for many seconds if I want to hear the environment

Exactly. You can ascend without breathing if your airway is open. OW students are told to make an "ah" sound only so the instructor is sure they have the airway open. As well, if you don't ascend you can hold your breath. Photographers do this, and I often do this when hovering over a flounder getting ready to poke spear it-- don't want bubbles to frighten it, though they are quite stupid anyway.

 

[DogDiver]

Switch to a rebreather and problems solved.

 

[Julius SCHMIDT]

Just keep them at less than five minutes

 

[Celt]

You could use a bone phone inside a hood or cut two holes smaller than the head phones in an old hood to amplifier the hits. Either will work.