flying and hearing

korben88

korben88

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Troy
My friends son wants to get his ppl but he is deaf in one ear. Would that prevent him from passing the medical?
 
korben88 said:
My friends son wants to get his ppl but he is deaf in one ear. Would that prevent him from passing the medical?
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Will not prevent a third class medical (for PPL). Can't speak for second or first class.

IM deaf in one, and like 50% in the other. I just use good noise cancelling headsets that many pilots have. I'm based at a class C airport so use ATC services pretty much every time I fly.
 
Not really. Might have a minor restriction but I doubt it. Especially if he uses a headset. Highly recommended.
 
http://www.deafpilots.com/

An editor for the Chicago Trib who was profoundly deaf since birth flew across the country and wrote a book about it.
Google is your friend.

Bob Gardner
 
I thought this thread was going to be about those few guys out there who still refuse to wear a headset and use the hand held microphone for the radio. Rare but when you hear those guys they are unmistakable.
 
Know guys that are 100% deaf and still fly. Restriction on their medical prevents them from flying in airspace that requires 2 way radio communication. Definitely doable.
 
Per the FAA Aviation Medical Examiner Guide, you can use both ears to pass the hearing test described below -- no "one ear at a time" tests involved. As long as your son can do that, there will be no restrictions on any class of medical certificate.

The applicant must demonstrate an ability to hear an average conversational voice in a quiet room, using both ears, at a distance of 6 feet from the Examiner, with the back turned to the Examiner
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That said, make sure he gets and uses a high-quality automatic noise reduction (ANR) headset to ensure protection of his one good ear.
 
I don't remember even taking a hearing test when I got my medical.
 
I had one AME who would use a hearing booth with headsets. Others have whispered "can you hear me?" But most just judge your hearing in normal conversation. If you are not saying "huh" all the time I guess it's OK.
 
bobmrg said:
http://www.deafpilots.com/

An editor for the Chicago Trib who was profoundly deaf since birth flew across the country and wrote a book about it.
Google is your friend.

Bob Gardner
Click to expand...

I've done a little flying around in cubs with no radio, but I have to admit I would be a little apprehensive about going to a deaf pilot fly-in.
 
Everskyward said:
I had one AME who would use a hearing booth with headsets. Others have whispered "can you hear me?" But most just judge your hearing in normal conversation. If you are not saying "huh" all the time I guess it's OK.
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The whisper test was removed from FAA medical requirements 10-15 years ago...apparently the FAA suddenly realized that airplanes had airspeed indicators in them, and you don't need to listen to the sound of the wind in the wires to judge tour airspeed. It's now, as Ron posted, an "average conversational voice".
 
dell30rb said:
I've done a little flying around in cubs with no radio, but I have to admit I would be a little apprehensive about going to a deaf pilot fly-in.
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Around here the old timers have a hard time with runways like 13/31 and land going the opposite way of what they announced 5 times on the radio.
 
MauleSkinner said:
The whisper test was removed from FAA medical requirements 10-15 years ago...apparently the FAA suddenly realized that airplanes had airspeed indicators in them, and you don't need to listen to the sound of the wind in the wires to judge tour airspeed. It's now, as Ron posted, an "average conversational voice".
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Didn't know they did away with the whisper test. It's been a long time since I had an AME do that. I haven't been to the one with the hearing booth in at least 5-7 years, since she retired. I don't know what you would need to do to fail that since I have OK hearing and it was never mentioned to me.
 
If you want to read the technical standard yourself -

1st-3rd class medical standard for hearing is all the same. Keep in mind that AMEs generally want people to pass. They're looking for someone to be able to hear. The conversational test is generally a conversation.

1) Conversational voice test: For all classes of certification, the applicant must demonstrate hearing of an average conversational voice in a quiet room, using both ears, at 6 feet, with the back turned to the Examiner. The Examiner should not use only sibilants (S-sounding test materials). If the applicant is able to repeat correctly the test numbers or words, "pass" should be noted and recorded on FAA Form 8500-8, Item 49. If the applicant is unable to hear a normal conversational voice then "fail" should be marked and one of the following tests may be administered:
2) Standard. For all classes of certification, the applicant may be examined by pure tone audiometry as an alternative to conversational voice testing or upon failing the conversational voice test. If the applicant fails the pure tone audiometric test and has not been tested by conversational voice, that test may be administered. The requirements expressed as audiometric standards according to a table of acceptable thresholds (American National Standards Institute [ANSI], 1969, calibration) are as follows:

Ear (All classes of medical certification)
Frequency (Hz) 500 Hz 1000 Hz 2000 Hz 3000 Hz
Better Ear (Db) 35 30 30 40
Poorer Ear (Db) 35 50 50 60
3) Audiometric Speech Discrimination. Upon failing both conversational voice and pure tone audiometric test, an audiometric speech discrimination test should be administered (usually by an otologist or audiologist). The applicant must score at least 70 percent at an intensity no greater than 65 Db in either ear.
 
In any event, the salient fact for the OP is that with ears (unlike eyes) there's no need for both to work in order to get a medical of anything up to First Class without further ado.
 
Gucci Pilot said:
Know guys that are 100% deaf and still fly. Restriction on their medical prevents them from flying in airspace that requires 2 way radio communication. Definitely doable.
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...but requiring special authorization. Deaf in one ear only does not.
 
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