PPL & Hearing Aid ??

[tjamesbo]

I am considering doing my PPL but am wondering if it is possible as I suffer from hearing loss , Not greatly so, I get by without my aids most of the time but would not pass a whisper test at the medical without them . Is it a Jobstopper ??? I mean glasses aren't , and I will have no problems with the RT turned up So anyone got any info Its a lifetime dream for me and I'm 55 now Its a dream I want to fulfil somehow I am not a quitter!
Thanks

[McGoonagall]

NPPL. Self declaration of fitness confirmed by your GP. For your own and others safety get a good hearing test that simulates the conditions of a light aeroplanes cockpit. Otherwise, take a trial lesson and see how you cope in real time.

I can recommend a Rotax powered plane. Much quieter than the usual suspects. Try it.

[mad_jock]

Would have thought so, you only get a hearing test as such if you do an IR with a class 2. So as long as you can hear the RT and the instructor you should be OK.

[JOE-FBS]

A chap I know through Flyer has a fairly serious hearing loss and a NPPL. If you join that forum and search for the user name "Ian Mellville", you could try asking him for advice.

[ninja-lewis]

Another vote for NPPL. (Wouldn't rule out a PPL though if you might pass the 2m conversation test)

Requirements are same as DVLA driving standards. If you meet the professional driver standard ("able to communicate in the event of an emergency by speech or by using a device e.g. a MINICOM"), you can carry passengers. Not difficult - plenty of profoundly deaf lorry drivers! Failing that, the private car standard ("no need to inform DVLA") will allow you to go solo. The main issue is that you should carry a spare aid (just as you would spare glasses) just in case.

I have a severe loss with an aid on one side and no useful hearing on the other. Currently a NPPL(SSEA) student with 14 hours and signed off by GP for Group 2 (Professional driving). We're not alone either.

Shenington Gliding Club has a deaf gliding instructor who lipreads and signs BSL with a mirror. A Swede circumnavigated the world in a DA42 in 2006. The first man to complete a transcontinental flight across the US in 1911 had a hearing loss and there is a (mainly US) Deaf Pilots Association representing hundreds of deaf pilots around the world today.

Deaf Pilots Association (http://www.deafpilots.com/)
http://www.iaopa.eu/mediaServlet/storage/gamag/dec08/p34_35.pdf

Good Luck!

[thing]

I'm as blind as a bat and have hearing loss through standing in front of Marshall 100 watt stacks for years, I have a class two medical. I also did my PPL at 55. Just go for it.

[flyinkiwi]

A question, would having an ANR headset help a hard of hearing person or would it be of no benefit or even detrimental?

I have slight hearing loss but not bad enough to cause a problem with my Class 2 medical. I used and still use PNR headsets when I fly because I just turn up the volumes of the intercom and/or radios until I can hear properly.

[7of9]

I have a class two medical which I passed recently, ask your CFI for a hearing functional test


Reference:SRG 1205

I fly on a JAA FCL Licence & have just passed my IMC.

I have never had any problem with my hearing while flying either with Air Traffic or my passengers.

Trev

[IO540]

A good headset will always help you communicate on the radio.

If you plan to keep flying, the long term cost of a good headset is well worth every penny.

Every time one goes up for a flight, one hears pilots who are clearly struggling with crap headsets, and crap microphones on crap headsets.

Unfortunately crap mikes are common enough in ATC too (certain desks at Southampton, most UK military units) but there isn't much you can do about it except tell them.

If you can, get the Bose A20. Nothing gets even close.

Most of the headsets in pilot shops are basically crap; they sell because they are cheap and a large % of the pilot population does not plan to be flying for too long after they get their PPL so they don't want to send any money on kit.

However, some of the cheap headsets will take more abuse than a Bose (especially the rather fragile Bose X) and that is a factor if you are going to be lending yours to other people. I have 2 x Bose A20 and 2 x Bose X and always carefully brief passengers that they need to handle them carefully because they don't cost twenty quid :)

[Scott C]

When I did my PPL, my instructor wore a hearing aid and he had a Class 1 medical and a CPL!

He's still happily flying around and teaching :)

[tjamesbo]

Whereabouts was that ?? I live in Sutton Coldfield and work in tamworth

[kevmusic]

Just an alternative take on this. I have partial hearing loss and tinnitus in my left ear. Once I got my PPL it was my dream to fly open cockpit - Tiger Moths, Turbs and so on. I went and did it but was bitterly disappointed to find that an hour in an open cockpit made my tinnitus ten times worse for about two days afterwards. Ear plugs helped but I guess that's defeating the object.....

I have now backed off and find peace and tranquility in a Luscombe - when I'm not ground-looping it!

[24Carrot]

A friend of mine is a PPL with a hearing aid, so it is possible.

He said he had to do a "functional test", i.e. a very relaxed flight with an examiner who checked he could hear the radio traffic. Obviously, the examiner made a judgement call on what was audible!

[J.A.F.O.]

As an aside (because you seem to have had some very positive answers) you might enjoy:

Flight of the "Gin Fizz": Midlife at 4, 500 Feet: Amazon.co.uk: Henry Kisor: Books


It's a great book and truly an inspiration.