protecting my hearing in piston a/c

[Mickey]

The sound wave is canceled therefore there are no vibrations hitting your eardrums. What you hear are the soundwaves that have not been cancelled. An ANR headset protects your hearing and acuity. I notice minute little sounds of the engine I could never even notice with non-ANR headsets. If you don't lower the sound levels to an acceptable level you can't really hear the details of the engine. What you hear way too loud. Stand next to an engine running full bore without any headset and it is so loud you can't notice anything of detail because it is too loud. Sensory overload.

 

[YeOldeProp]

You want to have the "very most" of your hearing capability for the "very most" portion of the rest of your life. From an older guy (who is fortunate to have a wife who's an audiologist), you need to protect your hearing from day one...despite the "invinciblity factor" of youth.

We're all dumb enough to believe in our own invicibity as we start. Most of you "older folks" can remember when it finally crept into your brain that your "folks/teachers/preachers/whatever" were right about a lot of things in life. In the aviation industry, this is one of those things you really, really need to be ready for. So, for all youngsters in the business (and youngster is purely relative to the length of time you've been around loud engines), please listen to some older folks on this one and PROTECT your hearing with the very best you can get.

Some of ya'll may have families already, and some may be a few years away. Do them a favor and protect your hearing. It really sucks to have people (really sucks if it's your little ones) talk to you and you have to give them a blank look and go: "Huh?". Especially bad when you're in your early 40's and only gets worse from there. Flying is fun, but not protecting yourself is stupid. Hey...sounds like one of those commercials you used to hear when you were a teenager and the new thing was sex...protect yourself!

Good luck and fly safe...

 

[Say Again Over]

please listen to some older folks on this one and PROTECT your hearing with the very best you can get.

Read you loud and clear! :beer:

 

[avbug]

The sound wave is canceled therefore there are no vibrations hitting your eardrums. What you hear are the soundwaves that have not been cancelled. An ANR headset protects your hearing and acuity.

ANR gives the impression of hearing protection, when it's cancelling sound in a narrow frequency range.

 

[FrozenPilot]

ANR does give hearing protection, not an impression. A passive NR headset may have a broader range of NR, but it is not effective in the frequencies that a prop and piston engine produce the most. I still use my Lightspeed on the Caravan, even though its a much quieter bird over previous piston airplanes I've flown. I hear a little wind noise and the turbine whine clearly. I tried my trusty passive headset, and while it worked well, I prefer the sound levels with ANR. YMMV

 

[avbug]

ANR cancels sound in narrow frequency ranges, giving you the impression that it's indeed quieter. You're hearing some things better because your hearing (and ability to discriminate one sound from another) is able to pick out sounds in certain frequencies)...but don't make the mistake of believing your hearing is being protected.

What ANR does for you is enable better communication. Think of it in that term rather than hearing protection. It doesn't block noise (ever turn off your lightspeed's ANR while flying?) or provide broad spectrum protection. It cancells certain sound waves and vibrations and certain frequencies only, giving the impression that indeed it's much quieter than it really is.

I have lightspeed headsets and bose headsets; I've used them in small piston engine airplanes, turbojet and turboprop airplanes, and even what may be the loudest cockpit in the world, the re-engined PB4Y-2 (according to sound meters I carried on board as part of a test). I've also frequently used them in conjunction with earplugs for additional protection, and when using them, I don't consider them protection, only enhancers for communication.

Conversely in my flight helmet, while I was urged to have ANR installed, I declined, because I found that I can't hear what I need to hear well enough with ANR present. The helmet alread blocks enough noise that any further decline in my ability to discern higher frequencies might mean I'd miss an engine failure completely unless I happened to be looking at the instruments, and at critical times I can't afford to be looking in the cockpit at all. Being able to hear changes in the airplane around me is very important, and while the ANR may not do much to protect my hearing, it might cause me to miss some critical cues to the health and operation of the airplane.