I attended Gatwick yesterday for an initial class one medical (I've held a class two since 2002) which was mostly okay apart from getting awful results on the hearing test.
The doctor said that the level of hearing loss was what you might expect from someone who had been exposed to shelling on a battlefield! I'm awaiting further information by post from the CAA but from memory the results were in the 35-40dB loss for the 3kHz and 35dB for the 2kHz tests. I believe the limits are 50dB for 3kHz and 35dB for 2kHz. I was asked if there could be any particular reason for this level of hearing loss and at the time I couldn’t really think of any, since this was all quite a surprise to me.
Since yesterday there are a couple of things that I have thought of that I should have mentioned:
* I have played tuned percussion in a 30 piece brass band for 16 years. This consists of 2hr rehearsals, twice a week. I would imagine that of that 2hrs, <1hr is spent in a "loud" (100dB) environment.
* I've flown about 150 hours in a light single (C152) with standard David Clarke headsets (no ANR).
* I spend 12hrs / week in the car commuting to/from work at motorway speeds. The car has usually been a well insulated family type.
* While in their sound-proof box I could hear aircraft taking off and people walking down the corridor!
I know we don’t do diagnosis on this forum but I'd be interested in the viewpoint of others as this is worrying me a lot. The CAA wants me to see an ENT specialist before they will issue a class one to ascertain why a 28yo guy has such terrible hearing. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.