Well of course
AME&PPL would be able to give you the definitive answer, but he's gone AWOL.
, so I'll have a stab-
I should imagine it'll depend on 2 things:
A) Any hearing deficit.
B) If you examining doc is awake enough to notice. (Some of the b*ggers are hard to spot)
You shouldn't however lie....telling fibs to your AME is a bit like sleeping with your friends mum.....it seems a good idea at the time, but eventually it'll come back and trip you up.
Equalisation shouldn't be an issue by the way.
Cheers...ginge.
ps try a search, I'm sure someone else had a simillar issue 2-3 yrs ago.