I am a pilot, not a medical professional, and I am locatedin the United States.
With that said, cavortingcheetah’s advice fits what I wouldoffer, with the exception that my experience has been that my various employershave never cared about what headset I used. A bigger problem over the years has been fellow pilots who are unwillingto use the intercom, and want the inboard ear “open” so we can yell back andforth. Grrrrr.
IMO the headset issue comes down to culture, both companyand country. On the upside the youngerpilots seem to be smarter about this issue and are more likely to carry a goodheadset and use the intercom, so the future is promising.
All of which boils down to “it varies” as the answer to yourheadset question. But a workaround withcompany headsets (which always seem to be cheap) is foam earplugs and justcrank the volume up a bit.