In light of the theme of the thread it seems wise to establish a new thread relating to Health, Safety and work Environment - HSE. This would make it easy to navigate Rotorheads while looking for topics.
In CHC Helikopter Service AS in Norway we have established a HSE organisation for pilots, based on national work environment legislation. The pilot union appoint or elect representatives. The company is obliged to facilitate and finance this HSE system.
The HSE representative have been looking for ways of improving the work environment for pilots for numerous years. One of several important challenges is noise in the cockpit.
Up through the years we have tested various types of Electronic Noise Reduction (ENR) head sets in all price ranges, including, Peltor, David Clark, Bose etc.
None of the head sets seem to give a substantial benefit over a well maintained Peltor headset, when you at the same time use special ear plugs molded to fit each ear. Noise dampening effect of these plugs are tested to be 15db or 25db.
In addition we are looking into electronic ear plugs being tested out by research laboratories in Norway. No results so far, I believe.
Some pilots would like to use helmets, but it seems this might not be the right solution for lots of pilots, due to weight, even if they are light weight.
It's sad that the manufacturers of helicopters do not seem to care about the work environment of pilots. The L2 is more noisy in the cockpit than any of our L, L1's. The AS365N2 is even noisier I seem to recollect from data gathered. The S61 is the better one of the types, but this has been phased out from our fleet.
The S92 is perceived by the pilots to be noisy, for several reasons. It is not necessarily perceived by all pilots to be an improvement over older types.
On a good note: In Norway it seems that a spirit of cooperation has been established between all parties when it comes to looking for ways to improve safety and comfort for all on board, as well as improving the work environment for the pilots. The parties are: The customers, the CAA, the labour organisations, the Norwegian Airline Pilots Association and the local pilot unions. This bodes well for the future.
This will be my one and only posting on HSE issues on this thread, for the reasons listed at the beginning.