protecting my hearing in piston a/c

[Say Again Over]

I am currently using a new headset that doesn't use active noise reduction, the headset fits around the back of your head, not over the top, it's so comfortable that I leave it on for the entire flight, seems to cancel out more noise than anything else I've tried (Clarity Al#ft), ear pieces fit in your ear canal similar to ear plugs. For those that fly the noisy stuff like the Premier, I would highly recommend it.

 

[unreal]

im aware of how anr headsets make you less fatigue during flying, they are a sure bet.. but im still concerned about the potential damage that could be done to your ear drums.. 'svcta' has the point that im trying to get an answer too. the sound waves are still in your ears, but the anr cancels them out by the matching the modulation, by producing a wave that is directly out of phase with the sound effectively cancelling the noise out. but does this harm your ears..? i believe we need a doctor to help us on this one.

I seem to recall from highschool physics that two waves directly out of phase from each other would basically destroy each other. I could be wrong though; I think I got a C in that class, and it was 7 years ago.

 

[avbug]

Protecting your hearing in piston airplanes...shut off the engine. Silence is golden.

ANR doesn't so much protect your hearing as it makes communication easier. It only does this in a narrow range, too.

You'll suffer more hearing damage from vibration entering your skull via the bones around your ear than what you get in the ear canal...you can think your hearing is protected because you don't notice the sound as much, but you're still suffering hearing damage and loss.

Wearing earplugs is always good idea, it's double protection...but a headset...any headset, is a big improvement over just earplugs. A combination of the two is a very good idea.

ANR contributes to communication, and may enable you to hear things in the cockpit you couldn't hear before, but may also blot out sounds you might want to hear. I experienced a lightening strike or some type of discharge last week that others in the aircraft reported as being very loud, and I didn't hear it.

My helmet doesn't have ANR...others I know had it put in; I'd rather hear the engine. Last summer I had a catastrauphic engine failure and couldn't hear the engine well enough to tell the difference, even without the ANR...no change in vibration, either. The complete lack of aural response was a little disorienting (it wasn't piston, but turbine, but the point is still the same). Eliminating the noise completely isn't always desireable, either.

 

[FrozenPilot]

Wow...
Since I'm not as eloquent as mr avbug...

-ANR protects your hearing, reduces sound by physics (thats how PNR works), and may be better than PNR, depending on the model and your airplane. Think of it more as a PNR headset tailored for a specific situation.

-Earplugs=earwax, sweat, & ear infections. if you dont mind, you have your solution

-ANR noise attenuation could be a concern, but todays headsets don't cut out enough noise to be problematic. If you're like me and play your mp3s while flying, noise attenuation is DEFINATELY a concern.

-I'd hate to be the guy that wears a headset to reduce all sounds to below 85db and still get hearing damage.

-Again, those that say ANR reduces engine noise to a quiet fan or no noise at all... is completely wrong! I've read the reviews, done the research. Its comfortably quiet, just not that quiet. If you fly with props, you should at least try ANR.

 

[Mr Wu]

If sound waves hit your eardrum, your eardrum will vibrate. If your eardrum vibrates, you will hear sound. If your eardrum vibrates twice as fast/hard(?) you will hear a louder sound. The theory of the ANR generated wave (actually a compression and rarefaction) causing more damage than no headset is bovine excrement. An easy way to understand ANR is to think of it as a TR

 

[unreal]

-Again, those that say ANR reduces engine noise to a quiet fan or no noise at all... is completely wrong! I've read the reviews, done the research. Its comfortably quiet, just not that quiet. If you fly with props, you should at least try ANR.

Very true. I tried out a pair of my roommate's Telex ANRs, and all they did was block out the low rumble of the engine, not the whole thing. You can certainly still hear the engine just fine, and actually, it would seem that you can hear the engine better with ANRs, as you can actually hear the true engine sound instead of all that propeller/wind noise. Could be wrong though!

The trouble was when I went back to my old passive DCs the next flight, and flew about 5.5 hours that day. Ack. I'm definitely in the market for some nice ANRs now. Can't swing a pair quite yet, but I may try the earplug idea.

 

[avbug]

If your eardrum vibrates twice as fast/hard(?) you will hear a louder sound.

If your eardrum vibrates twice as fast, you'll hear a different pitch, not necessarily a "louder" sound. Frequency vs. amplitude.

With a bose headset right now, I can't hear the powerplants. I've had that in several aircraft. I can hear switch noises in the cockpit, but not the engine.

 

[icefr8dawg]

With the Bose X I've heard exhausts fall off, spark plugs fly out and wind noise just fine so I wouldn't worry about aircraft noise in pistons. They had trouble working in an SNJ once but the canopy was open.
Jets feel too quiet with the Bose headsets on so we do the telex leightweight deal.

 

[Say Again Over]

Do yourself a favor and search Clarity Aloft, I could never go back to a bulky vice like headset, just my 2 cents.

 

[DrewBlows]

I'll take the Pepsi challenge of engine abnormality with my Bose vs. anyone with no hearing protection. I'll have an advantage because I don't have to filter though the droning engine noise.

I can't hear the engines in the RJ, but the engines are 100' behind me and I can't see them either. I could hear them in the Dornier.