flying and hearing protection

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Pre-takeoff checklist
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david
I know a number of older pilots with hearing loss due to years of flying. I don't want to be one of them. So I'm interested in knowing what I can do to protect my hearing for the future. What type of headset/technology will be best for me.

Cost is really a secondary consideration as I can't put a price on my my hearing. Figure I have ~$1K to spend (but am very willing to pay much more if needed to protect my hearing) and I'm looking for the best I can get. What should I buy? Would I be better off with something more expensive? Is ANR a valid choice, or does that just make it more comfortable for the time when I'm flying but not actually help with the long term hearing issue?

Any help woulde be appreciated.
 
Bose A20, DC w/ ANR both do a good job of noise isolation.
 
Lightspeed Zulu or Bose.

Go to a place that will let you "try them on" for an hour. Everyone's head is different and one will fit your's better than the other.

and yes, Good ANR is worth every penny.

Spend the money and treat your headset gently and with care and it will reward you.

A lot of older pilots didn't have the benefit of headsets at all....
 
I had hearing loss and didn't want it to get worse with flying and did a good bit of research on this last year. I ended up going with the Sennheiser S1 which Aviation Consumer rated as having the most noise reduction overall. I tried them all out at Sun N Fun last year and couldn't tell much of a difference between them in noise reduction while standing at the various booths. I narrowed it down to the Bose and the Sennheiser based on comfort for me and went with Sennheiser. My beef with Sennheiser is also it's strong point in that they are big. They fit my big head and ears great and are very, very comfortable. They just feel huge sometimes when moving around in the plane.
 
Anr headsets plus earplugs under them. That's the best way to keep all of your hearing.
I wish they had existed 25-30 years ago.
 
PilotAlan said:
Anr headsets plus earplugs under them. That's the best way to keep all of your hearing.
I wish they had existed 25-30 years ago.
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Belt and suspenders... I know some banner towers who do this, because they just spend so much time in noisy-cabin airplanes.
As for comfort vs protection, OP: if whatever you wear is more comfortable, noise-wise, it's helping. So ANR really does help in the long run. There's also more to it than cutting frequencies that are unpleasant... I don't fly power much these days, but just yesterday I was up in a friend's Arrow, and again marveled at how well my Bose Model X set squashed the nastier frequencies, particularly some of the lower frequencies, which can do a lot of damage over time, even though those sounds may not seem so annoying. I didn't shop around for an ANR set; got a great deal on the X because I work for a Bose vendor. So they may not be the best choice. But the set is lightweight, doesn't crush my head, and has decent attenuation even when not powered up. And Dr. Bose (who recently passed away, RIP) knew his stuff when it came to manipulating sound waves. He didn't discover the concept of phase-canceling noise control, but he definitely took it far.

The key shopping points, unless you really really need Bluetooth capability or whatever: check the passive attenuation spec as well as the active, check weight, and if possible, try it on to see if it's comfy on your head.
 
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Acepdr said:
I agree with the ANR comments, they provide an equal amount of hearing protection. Do you have to spend a $1000, well that question usually triggers lots of discussion. For something different, have a look at our line of ANR Headsets. Just another one on your list of choices.

http://www.thesquawkshoppe.com/collections/arcus-anr


Thank You

Paul
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Couldn't help but notice that the website doesn't say what batteries the ANR stuff uses.
 
I just recieved my Sennheiser HMEC-461 ANR Headset, it's last years model. After one flight in the PA-28, I'm really happy with it's performance.

I chose it because of this article. ->
http://www.headsetsinc.com/fly01.pg58-63 copy.pdf

It's about $600. Based on article's measurements and comparisons, the Sennheiser HMEC-461 had:

Best active noise attenuation for it's day.
Best passive noise attenuation for it's day.

I believe passive attenuation is as important as active. Sooner or later everything fails. When it does, you still want a good headset on your head.

Also good passive attenuation probably means the active attenuation will be more effective.

Active noise reduction relies on the fact that the transmission of electrical signals is much faster than transmission of sound. However to effectively make anti noise (or maybe tuned damping), you need a pretty fast circuit.

So, if you use good passsive attenuation methods to narrow the range of the noise getting through the headset, the electronics can be that much more effective.

So I got top notch quality for about $400 less.
 
bnt83 said:
Couldn't help but notice that the website doesn't say what batteries the ANR stuff uses.
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Most use either 2 or 4 AA batteries these days, some of the older models used 9-volt batteries but the life was short so AA became preferred. You can also get panel-powered models but that limits you to use in aircraft with the panel-powered plugs, so it's not really a good option if you fly multiple aircraft or rent aircraft.

And yes - ANR is worth it. You can expect in the neighborhood of $1k for new and $500-$600 used but functional for the high-end products.
 
I originally bought 2 pair Bose A20 last year at Oshkosh. It was my first purchase of a decent headset and I would do it again in a hearbeat. My david Clarks tended to hurt after awhile and werent noise cancelling.

I absolutely love my bose. I know there are some good quality headsets out there but Bose is what I chose. I just purchased a 3rd for my kids, they can plug into the IPAD and watch movies during flying.

When working on the Heli I was stupid young guy and walked around without headset at times until I had little hit on my hearing tests. Anytime I am around anything aviation the ear plugs are in place.
 
Skylane81E said:
Love my Bose X
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Me too!! Actually I have 4 of them and love them!
No shame in buying a used Bose X right now for $3-500.00, they used AA batteries, I usually get 25+ flight hours out of a pair of AA's, make sure you keep a few spare ones in your bag or airplane. ;)
 
N747JB said:
Me too!! Actually I have 4 of them and love them!
No shame in buying a used Bose X right now for $3-500.00, they used AA batteries, I usually get 25+ flight hours out of a pair of AA's, make sure you keep a few spare ones in your bag or airplane. ;)
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I've got 4 of them for the 172, but I went with panel-powered Zulus for the RV9A. I don't move headsets between aircraft, I just have enough headsets for every seat in each one.
 
TulsaWeather said:
Lightspeed Zulu or Bose.

Go to a place that will let you "try them on" for an hour. Everyone's head is different and one will fit your's better than the other.

and yes, Good ANR is worth every penny.

Spend the money and treat your headset gently and with care and it will reward you.

A lot of older pilots didn't have the benefit of headsets at all....
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my first CFI was very hard of hearing. He told me they listened to calls on the overhead speaker.

I like my older Bose X, but I recommend the newer ANR sets (not Bose necessarily) with blue tooth. It will let you link the phone to your headset.
 
TulsaWeather said:
Spend the money and treat your headset gently and with care and it will reward you.
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LifeInverted said:
Ditto. If you do it right, you should only ever need one...
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True that. My primary Softcomm C-90 has been giving me good service for 13 years so far. Have had to send it in for repairs once. The second C-90 that I bought 12 years ago is still going strong, but it is for my wife and she doesn't ride with me every time I fly.
 
TulsaWeather said:
Lightspeed Zulu or Bose.

Go to a place that will let you "try them on" for an hour. Everyone's head is different and one will fit your's better than the other.

and yes, Good ANR is worth every penny.

Spend the money and treat your headset gently and with care and it will reward you.

A lot of older pilots didn't have the benefit of headsets at all....
Click to expand...
Every item above is the absolute truth, although there are good ANR headsets besides Lightspeed Zulu and Bose (but I use a Zulu.2 anyway).
 
I love my Clarity Aloft headset. Swapped out the foam tips for triple flange tips so I no longer have to pinch those nasty used tips all the time, but the noise suppression between the two types didn't seem to be that different.
 
I spent 30 + years at the race track so my hearing is compromised for sure..... With that said........ I LOVE my Lightspeed 20-3G's...:yes::yes:
 
PilotAlan said:
Anr headsets plus earplugs under them. That's the best way to keep all of your hearing.
I wish they had existed 25-30 years ago.
Click to expand...

I've tried a headset and earplugs. I have to turn up the headset volume with the plugs in, of course. It's odd that sometimes the earplugs make it easier to understand what is being said and sometimes they make it harder. Haven't figured out why yet. :dunno:
 
Thanks for all the replies. Maybe this is a dumb question, but I know ANR cancels out noise quite well which makes it seem quieter. Does it have the same protective effect as passive noise reduction with an equivalent noise reduction?

In other words, if I have a non-ANR headset that give the same noise reduction as an ANR one(with the ANR on), do they both have the same benefit for protecting my hearing? Or is one better than the other due to the difference in how they work?
 
[QUOTE='\__[Ô]__/;1216036'It's odd that sometimes the earplugs make it easier to understand what is being said and sometimes they make it harder. Haven't figured out why yet. :dunno:[/QUOTE]
Sometimes it's determined by the amount of hearing loss you already have, and the frequencies affected.
 
PilotAlan said:
Sometimes it's determined by the amount of hearing loss you already have, and the frequencies affected.
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There are all kinds of quality for earplugs, as well.

If clarity is an issue, look into musicians' earplugs. Be aware; they can be pricey. There is no such thing as a musicians' monetary unit as money and professional music don't go together, but some things can get more expensive than you might expect. [There is an old musicians' joke that a musician is someone who stuffs a $5000 instrument into a $500 car to go to a $50 gig.]
 
\__[Ô]__/;1216038 said:
Thanks for all the replies. Maybe this is a dumb question, but I know ANR cancels out noise quite well which makes it seem quieter. Does it have the same protective effect as passive noise reduction with an equivalent noise reduction?

In other words, if I have a non-ANR headset that give the same noise reduction as an ANR one(with the ANR on), do they both have the same benefit for protecting my hearing? Or is one better than the other due to the difference in how they work?
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It doesn't matter whether you use ANR or PNR to attenuate the sound energy to protect your ears. I.e.... ANR is not a "trick" to make your brain think there's less sound -- it physically cancels out the sound waves with out-of-phase sound waves and so less sound reaches your ears either way.

Now, different models will have different ranges of frequency response, so to some extent different frequencies will pass through different active or passive headsets, which could make some better than others for long term protection.
 
rbridges said:
my first CFI was very hard of hearing. He told me they listened to calls on the overhead speaker.
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Back in the early 90s when I instructed we didn't use headsets either. What were we thinking?!!
 
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