I bet the mic problem got them out of understanding mode into just get it back to them mode.
There followed three unsuccessful attempts by the EIKY Tower Controller to obtain a read back of the clearance from the Flight Crew. Finally, the Flight Crew transmitted “Ah let me try this mic is this any better” to which the EIKY Tower Controller responded “Affirm initially I got the start of your transmission and then it blanked out just a blank sound dead air so if you can just give the read back again please”.