View Full Version : ANR headsets and intercom hiss.
I realise there are lots of threads about headsets and I've read many them, but what isn't clear is whether ANR headsets are effective at cutting out intercom/radio hiss. I fly a Saab 340 turboprop day to day and am getting fed up of the crap intercoms on some of them, which the company-supplied DC 10-30s don't do anything for. I'm looking at Sennheiser HMEC 25KA or BoseX headsets but don't want to shell out those pennies unless they're going to do the job, and there are not too many places here in Scotland where you can try before buying. Your opinions and experience would be welcomed.
silverknapper
19th Jul 2005, 11:33
Do you have an open mike on the aircraft or do you turn it off when not talking? If it's open then I don't think ENC will cut out the hiss. I have DC ones, and when other guy leaves his mike open I get hiss.
Yep, open mike. Bummer. On some of the aircraft it's ok, but on others it's impossible to get the balance right and I'm either drowning out ATC or my F/O with the hiss from the other. The quest continues.
ANR headsets reduce ambient background noise. they will NOT reduce noise from within the intercom system itself. They (in general) rely on an exterior mic picking up background noise and then feeding it 180 degrees out of phase into the earpiece so cancelling out the original noise.
The theory is that it therefore works for hums/hisses and droning type noise but will not affect short term bangs crashes and noises which may require crew attention. Though I did hear that BA had to increase their audio alerts audio as some crew felt they were missing them.
Hope this helps.
PanicButton
21st Jul 2005, 22:52
We have the sennheizer HMEC 45 KA at my company and I've been told there is screw on the mic to modulate the squelch or uptake of the mic.
18greens
24th Jul 2005, 09:27
Hi,
I don't know if this helps but i find that when using ANR headsets the is RT a lot clearer. This means you don't need the volume turned up to hear the RT over the droning noises. Therefore you turn your headset volume down to minimum and that in turn reduces the volume of the hiss.