Class 1 medical audiogram

[Condensation]

Hi,

Would anyone happen to know what the requirements for hearing are with the CASA class 1 medical? Such as the maximum amount of hearing loss accepted, the frequencies tested, etc. I found info on it on the CAA website, will the CASA one be similar or more strict?

Also, could someone please direct me to a good place to do the medical in Sydney (a quiet environment) as I have tinnitus . Any info would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you

[SM4 Pirate]

You can access the DAME hanbook on the casa website; should have all the details there re what is tested etc.

[Aerodynamisist]

If your worried about your hearing Condensation, try going to your GP and having your ears drained and cleaned prior to your medical or alternatively you can get these things called "ear candles" from health food or natural medicine shops that work well for cleaning your ears out, it makes a small difference in your hearing which could be enough to get you over the line if you have some existing hearing loss.
Reaction speed also plays a part in the test - be prepared to hit the button the instant you even think you hear something.

[Icarus53]

Some good tips above - I also have some pretty badd tinitus, up to 45% in some frequencies!

So far I have found that you are usually better off than you think. Tinitus usually affects only higher frequency hearing and most of what we need for the radio is beneath this. In fact I was recently told that even with substantial losses at the top end of the frequency band, I have lost less than 5% of my hearing overall.

The other news that might be good to hear (read??) is based on a coversation I had recently with a long serving pilot who had significant hearing problems for many years (he now wears an aid and is no longer on the line). He told me that even when his hearing was getting quite bad on the audiogram, he was given opportunity by CASA to demonstrate that he could understand radio traffic through a headset in order to maintain his medical.

Not quite definitive info, but hopefully a good indication of where you stand?

[bentleg]

You can access the DAME hanbook on the casa website; should have all the details there re what is tested etc

You can link to it here. Helpful stuff but no specific details.......

Table 67.150 of CASR 1998 (here) defines the actual requirements as -

Hearing requirements

1.29 Is not suffering from any safety-relevant hearing defect
1.30 If suffering from a hearing loss (measured in a quiet room using a
properly calibrated, compensated audiometer) in either ear of more
than:
(a) 35 dB at any of the frequencies of 500 Hz, 1 000 Hz or 2 000 Hz;
or
(b) 50 dB at 3 000 Hz —
passes a speech discrimination test, or an operational check, carried out
by an approved person in an aircraft of similar ambient noise level to
that in which the person being tested is or will be operationally
involved

[Arm out the window]

I've had some hearing loss, some hereditary no doubt, some from 20 plus years of aircraft operation, some self-induced exposure to loud music and a helpful mate who let off a shotgun very close to my head when I was 18 or so - anyway, the upshot is I've got some decent losses at certain frequencies, particularly in one ear, and I get various degrees of tinnitus.
Every time I do audiometry at my medical, the doc quizzes me about it, but I've always managed to pass. The worst was a few years back when changing between defence force services, I had to do the full entry medical again, and was out of limits hearing-wise, but only on some frequencies and only on the 'bad' ear.
From there, they sent me to a specialist who did some more in-depth testing, including the speech discrimination test, and he wrote a detailed report saying that in his opinion I was OK.
So if you do your standard audiometry and fail it, all is not lost - there are other avenues you can explore to get a waiver. I know I can't hear as well as I'd like to, but I have no problems understanding aircraft radio chatter, and the specialist (if required) will be able to suss that out.
Basically, do all you can to help yourself by not going in when you've got a cold and your ears are blocked, go in the morning before you've had a lot of noise exposure, do the ear cleaning things mentioned above and you'll probably be right.
Also, someone put up an interesting link on Jet Blast (I think) the other day - www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/hearing.html - where you can hear the audio tones and suss out where your problem frequencies may be - not particularly accurate due to the limitations of most computer sound systems, but an indication nonetheless.

Best of luck with it, anyhow.

"Eh .... what's that, sonny??"

[Bort Simpson]

quiet location

If you are looking for a quiet location in Sydney to do your test then you should try MAC Audiology. It is on a quite street and is well within the building.

It is in the Ryde medical centre (at Ryde Hospital) Eastwood. (northern burbs)

phone for them is 9874 9000

hope that helps
Bort.