View Full Version : ANR for instructors
I'm seriously considering upgrading my DC headset to ANR. Sometimes towards the end of a long day I feel like the noise is drilling a hole in the side of my head and I go home fatigued:zzz:
Do many instructors use ANR headsets and if so are there any problems or is it as good as many people claim?
Will ANR make a significant difference even with a rubbish club intercom/radio set up and students wearing cheap old headsets?
Crosswind Limits
4th Jul 2006, 15:26
Last year I had my DCs upgraded to ANR and it was worth it. Seriously going back to just passive with a noisy lycoming infront or either side doesn't bear thinking about!!:\
hugh flung_dung
4th Jul 2006, 16:48
Yes, go for it!
Several years ago I converted my DCs to ANR - strange to begin with but R/T and intercom are MUCH clearer. As an example: with ANR off I turn the headset volume knob fully up, with ANR on I turn the volume almost fully down.
If you DIY then save the extra cable and battery box by fitting a small slide switch to one ear cup and mounting the battery on the outside.
HFD
Instructed for 4 years with my trusted David Clark.
Flew for a year and a half with Telex ANR and finally worked my way up to a Bose....:ok:
A couple of thousand hours single engine in a noisy plane didn't do much good.
Brooklands
5th Jul 2006, 13:29
Dude~,
I converted my headset (Peltor) to ANR about five years ago, using a Headsets Inc kit I bought from Adams Aviation (http://www.adamsdirect.co.uk/), and am very pleased with the result.
If you don't feel up to a DIY job, then Adams will do it for you, or you could use the services of Richard Holder, who a number of people speak highly of. I don't have his contact details to hand, but if you wander over to The Dark Side (http://forums.flyer.co.uk/viewforum.php?f=1), and run a search on his name you should find them.
Brooklands
18greens
5th Jul 2006, 21:43
Do it immediately. No regrets, no looking back and you will be soooo pleased not to have tinnitus or dulled hearing and you will be amazed to be able to hear conversations in crowded rooms when you are older.
The only people I have heard poo poo them are two high hour CFIs, but from the way we have to shout at them I suspect they have both screwed their hearing already and thus can not tell the difference.
LocoDriver
13th Jul 2006, 01:55
Go for the ANR headset!
I got one two years ago(David Clarke) and wished I had got one years ago.
After thirty plus years of Cessna's, I have a 30 decibel loss at 2000 hertz in one ear, and 20 in the other.
My audiogram is the classic 'sawtooth' noise induced hearing loss, which means I have trouble hearing a conversation in a noisy room!
I am early 50's, and never even used a headset during the 1970's!, very few did then, and boy, are we paying the price for it now.
The big issue with hearing loss is 'voice discrimination', once that goes, well, your licence is in the balance!
A noise cancelling one is probably one of the best investments a pilot will ever make, hearing is precious.
I only fly around five hours per week as a part time Chief flying instructor, but am planning on inceasing this by instructing full time again.
When I do that, I intend to buy another ANR headset of another brand, to complement the first one!
Regards from New Zealand.
:ok: :ok: :ok:
NI66A
13th Jul 2006, 14:36
Dude.
Go ANR old son. Best move you'll make.
I bit the bullet & forked out for Bose. Superb! My old DC's were good but this new headset makes flying noisy singles a doddle! I never feel fatigued anymore or miss my callsign while teaching!
You won't regret the swap!
Peace out :cool: