HEATHROW DIRECTOR

I cannot speak with any authority, just from my own experience. I have a hearing loss which was attributed to rifle shooting in the Air Cadets without ear defenders. I passed my Initial Class 1 but my hearing deteriorated over the years and AMEs often mentioned that whilst it was OK for renewals it wouldn't get through an initial. I believe that something similar applies to eyesight. I.e you must achieve a certain standard in the first place but thereafter a certain amounht of deterioration can be acceptable.

Rather than wait for opinions on here why not telephone the medics at Gatwick. They are very helpful people and could probably provide an answer quite quickly.

Good luck.

Endeavour

Hi Rich

Have you seen this thread?

http://www.pprune.org/medical-health...-i-doomed.html

I have also sent you a PM.

Regards
Endeavour

Senlac

My hearing was good enough for a Class 1 medical, but have been aware of tinnitus for quite some time, so went to the doc. After referral, MRI and CT scans, it transpires I've got a form of brain tumour which needs sorting out.
Don't ignore it - get it checked.

Zenj

Hi,

Can someone do ab-initio flying training with just one side hearing ?

The other side is perfect.

bmw-rated

Hi!
Iīm sorry, I donīt think you can get a medical with that issuse unfortunately.

JAA:

"Hearing - the AME will use a normal conversational voice 2 metres behind you. You should be able to hear that in each ear separately. If you wish to obtain an instrument rating as a private pilot, then you will need to meet the JAR Class 2 Instrument rating Standards."

FAA:
FAA Medical Standards / Hearing / Audio

Very sorry for you,
wish you all the best

Rogal

I know person who can hear only on one side and he is a flight instructor with JAR CPL licence. Keep trying

Regards

Zenj

Rogal,

Is there a way to get his contact ?
It's very important for me, it's for someone who wants to pursue flying

DERG

If ya can't hear in an ear it is pointless to continue with a career in aviation. Ya need both ears to hear your co-pilot and comms. As you get older your ears get hammered by altitude changes. Have to tell you to forget your ambition.

john_tullamarine

I have no medical competence but AN, at one stage, had a Boeing captain who developed an ear cancer (as I recall).

Surgery sorted out the cancer, as well as the hearing structures in that ear.

He ended up with an integrated earphone/hearing horn over the head from the functioning left ear so that he could hear crew conversations.

Suggest that you seek DAME advice re the present rules.

Brian Abraham

Similar to JT's post, a Captain I knew lost the hearing in his left ear and his medical was endorsed to fly left seat only.

Hansard

It's possible in some countries to obtain a PPL with hearing deficiencies but I don't know about commercial flying.

For worst case scenarios, have a look at Deaf Pilots Association

Gulfstreamaviator

Just passed the Class 1 medical, 62 years and still kicking.

Over the last 10 years my audiogram result has become worse to such a degree that I can only just hear the first two tones.

Mostly ( I hope) due the the bad headset, loose fitting, telephone in the next office, and the general chit chat.

Just what is the standard that the kit, and location are maintained to.

Hope that next year, I can still manage a pass.

glf

wantobe

Nice to hear, congratz. =]

Irish Coffee

First off I will acknowlage that this thread should probably be in the health and medical section but I suspect that people involved in military aviation, the ones most likley to have encountered this problem, don't frequent it too often and I would quite like their opinions.
I was recently told by the in house doctor at my local Armed Forces Careers Office that I could not join the Fleet Air Arm, Army Air Corps or the Royal Air Force due to my failing of their hearing test. I can't remember the specifics (In hindsight i maybe should have written my results down) but to be a pilot or observer i needed to be 'group/grade' one in both ears. Whilst i was group/grade one in my right ear, my left ear was half way into group/grade two hearing. This came as a total shock to me because i have never had any problems with my hearing, to me my hearing is fine, and to be told that I cant be a pilot because of it was devestating.
I guess I'm asking for advice really. To me this seems like a silly rule, especially as I'm within the limits for joining as an Air Traffic Controller. I was just wondering how I can get around this or what I can do basically and whether anyone has ever heard of exceptions being made.

Any advice is greatly appreciated, thanks

Bob Viking

My experience of hearing tests is varied. During some of them you can hear the background noise change when it transmits, which makes it ridiculously easy. On others, if you are sat in the supposedly soundproof box as someone is flying overhead, you'd struggle to hear recordings of a bull elephant's mating call through the headphones.
What I'm trying to get at is (and I'm not suggesting the AFCO has a rickety old hearing test although it is possible) along the lines of what Mick Strigg said. Give it a go and you may perform differently on the day.
BV
Oh, and well done for writing an eloquent and grammatically correct post. According to the grammar police on this site you're halfway to being an Officer already!

kris15

just a question i've got.
Whats the minium requirment for hearing?

kris15

Hey all

Im intending to do my PPL later this year then cpl later on and yesterday i was looking at the CAA nz website at the hearing requirments and there was something i dont understand
for exmaple i saw 35db at 2000 hz.

i think that db means the level of hearing but what does the hz part mean?

Cheers

pilotmike

dB is decibel, a measure of 'loudness', or more strictly, power. The figure of 35dB represents the amount of hearing loss, effectively a raised hearing threshold at a specific frequency.

Hz is Hertz, or frequency in cycles per second. Hearing is usually measured at specific frequencies of pure tones, with different limits for allowable loss tailored to match human hearing sensitivity.

To help you, Middle C on a piano is aprox. 250Hz and is considered a 'low to mid' note, 1000Hz or 1 kHz is 2 octaves above that, and is considered a 'mid' frequency. 4kHz or higher is 2 more octaves higher in pitch, and is considered 'high frequency', the region where 'Ts' and 'Ss' consonants are formed. These are the frequencies which are most usually lost first in any hearing loss. This causes loss of detail in the sounds or speech which can be understood, leading to a muffled or unclear sound.

A typical hearing test would cover discrete frequencies across the audible range from 125 Hz to 8000Hz.

iranair777

Just had my class one done yesterday and apart from the hearing test, I passed everything. Quite surprising really considering I have never had any hearing problems. The AME did say though that it isnt a big deal and unless there is a physical problem with your ear (to which I have to have it checked at the hospital), you can get around it by doing something along the lines of getting a class 2 then upgrading I think?

Jerry Lee

Do you have any restrictiond with your 1^ Class due this problem?