cwyckham
Line Up and Wait
I'm volunteering with St. John Ambulance, and they made me do a hearing test before I started to establish a baseline to see if the sirens are damaging my hearing over time. I was dismayed to find out that I had significant hearing loss consistent with exposure to noisy environments. I haven't noticed the world getting quieter, but apparently the damage has been done.
I've very briefly held a couple of jobs in noisy environments, but always used adequate hearing protection. I believe that a probable culprit is general aviation. Note that I'm 32 and have only been flying for three years. Even if GA wasn't the original culprit, I certainly don't want to make my hearing any worse.
As a result, I've started wearing foam earplugs under my headset as recommended by the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI). What a difference! I wear a cheaper model passive headset which does an ok job. With a $1 set of foam earplugs, it's so quiet it almost feels like I'm in a whole different airplane. You'd think that I'd have trouble hearing the radio, but the opposite is true. Because the background noise is suppressed, I can hear speech much better. I've also noticed that it's easier for me to concentrate on what's going on and I'm a bit more relaxed in the cockpit.
I would highly recommend trying them. CAMI recommends doing a long cross country flight with only one earplug in under your headset. Immediately after you shut down, remove the earplug and see if you notice a difference. They say it'll be an eye (ear?) opening experience (I haven't tried it, I'm already sold).
Chris
I've very briefly held a couple of jobs in noisy environments, but always used adequate hearing protection. I believe that a probable culprit is general aviation. Note that I'm 32 and have only been flying for three years. Even if GA wasn't the original culprit, I certainly don't want to make my hearing any worse.
As a result, I've started wearing foam earplugs under my headset as recommended by the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI). What a difference! I wear a cheaper model passive headset which does an ok job. With a $1 set of foam earplugs, it's so quiet it almost feels like I'm in a whole different airplane. You'd think that I'd have trouble hearing the radio, but the opposite is true. Because the background noise is suppressed, I can hear speech much better. I've also noticed that it's easier for me to concentrate on what's going on and I'm a bit more relaxed in the cockpit.
I would highly recommend trying them. CAMI recommends doing a long cross country flight with only one earplug in under your headset. Immediately after you shut down, remove the earplug and see if you notice a difference. They say it'll be an eye (ear?) opening experience (I haven't tried it, I'm already sold).
Chris