TheFlyingSquirrel
Was bit vague earlier on but was just trying to get the subject open for discussion.
Spent 14 Years 4,500 hrs flying Gazelles and Lynx in the Army and we were made to wear helmets which, although uncomfortable, offered good physical and hearing protection. I assume.
On arriving on the North Sea I was issued with the standard Peltor headset and used this until my retirement some 12 years later adding another 7000hrs to my logbook flying the Puma L an L2.
During this time I saw other pilots with more expensive and later the noise cancelling headsets. Did not think it was worth the expense of paying out for these as my hearing was fine. So I thought!
Now I realise that the Audiogram getting slightly worse was not just old age but possibly the result of my ears being pounded by turbines. On North Sea platforms either the Captain or Co-Pilot stands outside and supervises the turnaround which lasts a minimum of 15 minutes of which maybe 10 minutes standing close to the aircraft. I normally carried this out even when Captain.
When my ear got blocked a few months ago it amplified the sound beyond belief and I felt like somebody was torturing me, it took 3 days to get an appointment to get my ear cleaned out.
After this event the whining is more noticeable to me and bloody annoying but nobody is to blame except myself.
So all of this waffle is just to say make sure you are aware of the problem from the horses mouths.
Is it that the headsets that were not up to the job or is it just the fact that turbine helicopters will deteriorate your hearing, no matter what, over the years?
I also want to see is how widespread a problem it is among the older pilots.