Say Again, Please: Flying and Hearing

If you don’t think hearing is important, try flying IFR into Chicago Bravo Airspace some afternoon. We were slated to land at Midway taking the OHHMY transition on the ENDEE SIX ARRIVAL. I dutifully plugged in all that info into my trusty Garmin 430, and felt I might be on top of things.

No sooner had the buttons cooled than TRACON proceeded to reroute me not one but two times. More button pushing and a few steep turns. Finally I was instructed to “follow the Airbus on final.” Not high tech, but it worked. Bottom line, flying in our complex airspace, ATC often issues complex instructions at the rate of a tobacco auctioneer. If you don’t catch all of it, you may have to wait an agonizingly long time before you can squeeze in a request for clarification.

That is why every time you get a flight physical, your hearing is tested.

Hearing evaluation at the time of your flight physical is usually pretty informal. The so-called conversational voice test is performed by asking a question in a normal conversational level six feet from the pilot with his back turned. You can use both ears and it’s OK to have hearing aids in place. If hearing aids are needed to pass the test it will be noted on your medical certificate to wear them in flight. Fair enough. If there is any question about your hearing, audiometry can be performed. Many AMEs have the necessary equipment to do this on site. If not a trip down the street to the local hearing aid shop can usually get the job done.

Let’s say you can’t pass the conversational voice test or audiometry. The next step would be to go for a “Statement of Demonstrated Ability” or SODA. This is a practical or medical flight test (MFT) usually administered by the Flight Standards District Office (FSDO). To take one, your hearing loss has to be stable, say if you did a couple of hitches in army artillery or played drums in a garage band as a kid.

If you have something like an ear tumor, vertigo, or meningitis that’s a different kettle of fish and you’ll need further medical evaluation. If you do qualify for an MFT the examiner will be looking for your ability to recognize things like power loss or engine failure by a change in vibration or instrument indications, independent of auditory clues. You should be able to recognize an impending stall by buffet, be alert to warning lights for gear up/down, motor RPM, etc.

Of course you can use a headset while taking an MFT. If by cranking the volume up you can hear adequately you’ll pass the test with your certificate indicating that you should wear a headset in flight.

As the phrase goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of treatment.” The aviation environment is a noisy one. When in flight, using a headset with Automatic Noise Canceling (ANC) is a really great idea. It will protect your ears from acoustic trauma and increase your ability to hear ATC and other communications. When you are on the tarmac, having a set of ear plugs handy to insert when you’re working around running engines is really smart. Take care of what you’ve got! Fly wisely. See you next month.

As always, comments, questions and suggestions are welcome: jdlakinmd@gmail.com. Also, we’ve moved our office to Airlake Airport’s FBO (KLVN)! Call 952-469-4414 or email hannah@wpflights.com for a flight physical appointment.