Tinnitus

[Sliding member]

Would suffering from (occasional) tinnitus cause any problems in gaining a class 1 or 2 medical. I understand there are no tests to prove you have such symptoms so you could get away with not telling anyone, but is this wise? Anybody out there fly and find they've developed tinnitus or similar during the years?

[Check 6]

SM, many career pilots develop tinitus eventually. I have had it for probably 15 years. It is no big thing as long as it does not interfere with flying. You should be able to ignore it with a little effort.

[Static Discharge]

I too have experienced continuous tinnitus for 10 years or so, BUT have never declared it to the doc. Have others declared it and avoided problems?

[CaptainFillosan]

Have had it for 26 years, never a problem. I doubt that it is possible to actually advise anyone what to do, but I didn't 'report' it. As long as your audio tests meet the requirements you're OK. It's a very annoying though.

[DXB]

S/M

Having lived with this condition for a few years, done extensive research I found a site that will give you a guide line as to what is expected in a FAA medical http://www.camijccbigov/AAM-300/part67.html
They go into some detail as to your better and not so good ear I have found that if you go thru a hearing test centre then it will give you a very good guide line as to, if you are above or below the req.
There is also a course of about 10 days of a low key steriod that you can take that will boost your hearing your ENT will know about this.
I hope this info will be of some use to you.

[MorningGlory]

Anyone know what the actual CAA Class 1 hearing requirements are?

[Officedesk]

Go to the CAA web site, use their search function! Enter JAR Class 1 Hearing Standards - and up they come!

Useful info on all medical standards are contained within.

However, they losses of hearing allowed are - assuming 0db is perfect hearing.

Initial issue:

at 500hz=20db
at 1000hz=20db
at 2000hz=20db
at 3000hz=35db

Revalidation/renewal:

at 500hz=35db
at 1000hz=35db
at 2000hz=35db
at 3000hz=50db


The renewal values are higher to allow for a natural loss of hearing throughout a pilots career.

If at test an audiogram reveals values within 5db of the limit then an annual audiogram will be required.

Levels of loss can actually be higher than those above provided a training captain confirms, after a test, that the pilot can perform his duties satisfactorily - this is only for renewal though and not initial issue.

[ravenx]

does anyone know if it is true that noise cancelling headsets can actually cause damage through the opposite frequencies they generate.

[MorningGlory]

Thanks OfficeDesk.

[SAS-A321]

How old are you guys who have lived with it for 10+ years?

Found this site today via a post one these fora:

Aviation Medicine Hearing Loss (http://www.aviationmedicine.com/hearing.htm)

This site is only for FAA realted issues and there are tons of answers.

[Sector Entry]

A hearing specialist resently informed me that ENC headsets simply create a negative sound wave that (in theory) duplicates the positive sound wave being created by the aircraft.
Having said that, Has anyone had experience with ENC headphones in a jet!
What I am asking is, without the use of an intercom, can you carry out a normal conversation or does the ENC cut out the spoken word?????

[davesingleton]

The subject of tinnitus does worry me especially as I am looking to gain a Class 1 medical having spent a number of years as a Bass player stood in front of a rig that puts out well over 1kW (or 1Kw) of low frequency. (Music and Flying, life is not worth living without them. And Stella Artois of course)

[Loose rivets]

I have lived with (about a 6 k) whistle for about 25 years. The issues are, how much does the sound diminish your hearing at a given frequency, and just as importantly, how much does it distress you.

When I first realised that it would never go away I was devastated. For most of the intervening years however, I have lived with it, and only occasionally bring the noise to the conscious foreground. You do learn to live with it.

At 6 k there is not much problem with the medical; at 3 k there is likely to be a greater difficulty satisfying the medics. The interpretation of Dbs is difficult as the scale is not remotely linear.

I had flown in a noisy turbo-prop for 800 hours of training and line-checking in the 13 months before it started.... I also had taken a course of Tetracycline which has a reputation for causing the problem... but nothing solid about that science. The symptoms have remained stable for all of this time.
If you can clearly hear the RT and identify an aid, go for it.
--------------------------------------------------------

[SAS-A321]

If you are worried about your hearing and tinnitus, then print out the required hearing scale from your country's civil aviation authority regulations (FAR/JAR/CASA/ICAO) and bring it with you to an ear doctor.

Although I have a ringing in one of my ears I hear perfect.

[boozle]

I know it's been a while since anyone posted to this thread, but I'd like to open it up again and ask a question.

Has anyone ever suffered from Tinnitus and declared it on their Class 1 renewal. If so, how did the AME or the CAA react?

After having looked at the various threads on Tinnitus, the general conclusion seems to be that declaring it may not be a great idea, but getting it looked at to check it's nothing serious is also sensible.

Forgive me for being a bit naive here, but it seems to me that it is a bit difficult to get an Ear Nose Throat specialist to look at you without there being a reasonable mark in your medical record? I know that not everyone declares doctor visits, but nonetheless...

Like I say, I'm probably coming across as naive, but I'd rather know what other people think/know about dealing with this in a way that won't affect your Class 1 renewal.

Thanks for everyone's help :ok:

Boozle :bored:

[Cosmo]

Thought I'd post a link to another thread, which is slightly related to the topic, more so to Sector Entry's question regarding communication without using intercom. Any comments?


Hearing protection (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?threadid=135358)

Cosmo

[Arkroyal]

boozle,

Yeah, I did and he was fairly unfazed. It was at a medical immediately after over 8 flying hours in a 737 at which the nurse thought the audiogram kit must have been faulty as I couldn't hear a bloody thing.

Short rest and passed OK.

He suggested a noise cancelling headset, but before I splash out, does anyone have experience of them in a cockpit environment where company SOP is to not use intercom and only cover one ear to facilitate plain voice cross-cockpit coms.

BTW how many other 737 fleets are operated in this way. Do all companies pretend these damned things are quiet?

[StressFree]

We're using noise cancelling headsets in our 737-700's. Whilst they are fairly effective in reducing the background noise the biggest problem is that they are SO uncomfortable. I cant wait to get them of as soon as I've landed - horrible bloody things. The extra problem is that they need a special jack socket that only accepts this sort of headset so we can't even plug in our old lightweights anymore.............

:(

[PlaneTruth]

Ark,

Here at Southwest many guys have bought the Sennheiser NC. They seem to be the best. I have tried them against my old dumb Dave Clarks and the DC's are quieter than the Senn's NC by a long shot.

Been flying the 737 since '82 and started with the earmold earpiece. I now use same with a foamy earplug in the right ear. I can hear cockpit sounds well but the noise decrease is tremendous. That -plus sleeping with ear plugs in, has brought my tinitus down, made my ears more sensitive due to the noise rest, and given me perfect hearing after repeated testing both by my AME and by an audiologist.

I used to wear a headset on the C-130. The Dave Clark was a Godsend but I really hate putting anything vise-like on my head. Even tried my friends new Bose headset. YUK.

A lifer earmold puke....


Good luck!

PT
:ok:

[Arkroyal]

Plane T

Helloooooooo............................ can you hear me?:O

Thanks. I was gravitating towards the Sennheiser NC things. Earmould? whassat?

[Raymond Ginardon]

I've used noise-cancelling headsets in some AC and found them to be superb. These are the ones with the 'jelly ' like ear cupules that mould themselves to your skull shape. No discomfort (admittedly with a max sortie length of only of 3 hrs) or strange effects on my hearing, except those voices......

If anyone's interested I'll find out the make and model tomorrow? They look like they cost a fortune as they are clear plastic and have a shed load of electrical circuitry and gizzits visible in them.

I don't think they require any special socket (standard USAF 2 plug prong thing).


Ray G

[jaja]

Boozle

I have had tinnitus for 4 years. I have declared it on my Class 1 renewals without any problems. Actually they don`t care about tinnitus as long you are able to pass the hearing test, which normally is not a problem.

They set you up for a special test to see if "the connection between the ear and the brain" is OK, as an infection here can cause tinnitus (thats what they told me !).
That being OK, you are left with the "something is wrong in your head" thing !

I have NOT learned to live with tinnitus. I have tried different alternative treatments with no success. I think a lot about it during daytime, and the quality of my sleep is not as good as it used to be.

If you work in a noisy enviroment, then your chances of getting tinnitus are high. The only noisy enviroment I have been in for many years is a A320 cockpit (the old noisy ones). I have heard other companies have paid compensation and even LOL due to tinnitus, have you any information on this ?

Tinnitus is a tabu, you don`t talk about it. And if you do, you are smiled at, something is wrong "upstairs" !

Other with tinnitus, please share your experience........

[Shagtastic]

If you are invovled in aviaition as a pilot or ATC then a possible cause of your tinntius may be muscular tension in the neck, on the side of your tinnitus, which in turn causes the small tensor tympani and tensor palati muscles to contract and become chronically shortened. These two are involved with larger muscle groups in the mastication muscle system which have also becommed shortened.

The tensor palati and tympani muscles involve the eustachian tube and hearing mechanism, so with the tensor tympani affected this could cause you to hear a variable hiss/buzz type noise in the ear, which changes from day to day and week to week depending on the degree of stress/shortening of the muscle.

The condition is otherwise known as TMJ or TMD and with pilots and ATC personnel wearing heavy headsets (in some cases) this upsets your neck muscles and creates an imbalance, this combined with stress leads to TMJ/TMD.

A good web reference to look at is www.drjimboyd/triphar.html, and importantly the correct person to see is an oral surgeon who will refer you to a good physio who treats TMJ/TMD muscular imbalances.

I think that with the low cost model airline becomming the norm and the increased assult on our physical wellbeing then this type of muscle tension tinnitus may appear more and more. Obviously a visit to a good ENT surgeon may also be required to rule out Accoustic nueromas, audio nerve disease or middle ear involvment, but after doing so and finding nothing then I am of the opinion ones tinnitus can be resolved as I have outlined above.

[Johe02]

I think you mean. . .

http://www.drjimboyd.com/TriPhar.html

[Fly3]

I have used a Sennheiser and found it very good. No trouble with cross flight deck conversation because it filters background noise only. It also makes using the HF a more pleasant experience!However one of our guys has a Bose set and that is much more comfortable to wear because it's much lighter.