Headset for hearing impaired

[Sean Franklin]

My hearing has gone downhill in the decade-plus since I last flew (congenital, not noise-induced loss). The last headset I owned was a Lightspeed ANR, but I sold it years ago. My hearing is ~70% loss, but mostly high-frequency and I am wearing hearing aids (behind-ear with receiver in canal). So I was curious what headset to look for.

This article might be a little self-serving since it's actually published by Lightspeed, but having experience with their headsets makes me more inclined to look at another one. I really like their "HearingEQuity" ability to program in a correction - similar to my AirPods Pros that I use when doing yard maintenance or woodworking, it lets me "Hear" whatever's coming through as though my hearing aids were still in. Has anyone had experience with that?

On my last headset, I went for the "LEMO" Panel Power 6-pin plug, which I had installed in my Saratoga. It's less bulky and eliminates worrying about batteries - and I had a "Converter box" so I could use it on a dual-plug airplane if ever necessary. But that's a ~$100 adapter and the headset's already pretty spendy. I don't know if the club 182's have a LEMO socket or not; will find out tomorrow.

[Terry Carraway]

Unlikely they will be LEMO. I went with David Clark, as I have used their passive headsets since the 70s. I did LEMO with the converter cable so I could go either way. LEMO outlets now installed in my plane.

There are some threads on Beech Talk about hearing and headsets. Most seem to fly without hearing aids and crank up the volume and that works. It seems the noise cancelling and hearing aids can interfere with each other.

[Scott Dyer HPN/NY]

Aviation Consumer had an article on flying with hearing aids in Feb 2021, I think it was.

[Sean Franklin]

Thanks Scott - will look up that article.

Terry, my intent is to not wear the aids while I'm flying - I can't imagine they'd work all that great under the headset, and probably wouldn't be comfortable. "Crank up the volume" works to an extent but my hearing loss isn't unilateral which is why I'm interested in the equalizer feature of the Lightspeed Delta Zulu. But I haven't found any others with a similar feature (12-frequency EQ, basically)

[Bill Bridges]

Unlikely they will be LEMO. I went with David Clark, as I have used their passive headsets since the 70s. I did LEMO with the converter cable so I could go either way. LEMO outlets now installed in my plane.

There are some threads on Beech Talk about hearing and headsets. Most seem to fly without hearing aids and crank up the volume and that works. It seems the noise cancelling and hearing aids can interfere with each other.

Being in the Field Artillery and firing way too many missions without earplugs, I found the only cure for me was to turn the volume way up. ROFL

[Bruce Gorrell]

My hearing loss is is categorized as "Severe". I used a Lightspeed Zulu 2 with my behind the ear hearing aids when I was flying Tinker Belle. Despite it being about the worst environment imaginable, the combination worked well.

[Ray Tackett]

Being in the Field Artillery and firing way too many missions without earplugs, I found the only cure for me was to turn the volume way up. ROFL

I'll bet we can both still distinguish BANGwhoosh from whooshBANG in our sleep. Happens a couple times per year for me with illegal fireworks nearby.

[Scott Dyer HPN/NY]

Thanks Scott - will look up that article.

Terry, my intent is to not wear the aids while I'm flying - I can't imagine they'd work all that great under the headset, and probably wouldn't be comfortable. "Crank up the volume" works to an extent but my hearing loss isn't unilateral which is why I'm interested in the equalizer feature of the Lightspeed Delta Zulu. But I haven't found any others with a similar feature (12-frequency EQ, basically)

My wife takes her hearing aids off before flight (earrings, too!). And she doesn't have equal loss across the spectrum...some things I say sotto voce and damn! We're using Bose, no freq EQ.

[A. Niemyer]

I've been flying with hearing aids since I retired from the Navy in 2003. What I've noticed that certain brands of behind-the-ear hearing aids play well with different brands of headsets. Some headsets just seemed to give my B-T-E HAs fits. I've worn Bose X, Bose 20s, D-C ONE-X, and now the Lightspeed Delta Zulus. I like the fact the DZs are actually tunable for your hearing loss. I've worn them for a year with my current set of VA-supplied HAs and they've worked very well.

Best regards,
Andy

[Bill Bridges]

I'll bet we can both still distinguish BANGwhoosh from whooshBANG in our sleep. Happens a couple times per year for me with illegal fireworks nearby.

I do NOT like fireworks.

[Sean Franklin]

The club does, in fact, have LEMO jacks in their aircraft. But, they also have Zulu 3 headsets for loan so I can see if (a) "Crank it up" without equalization will work, (b) wearing the hearing aids with the headset will work, or (c) need to get a Delta Zulu.