Do Active Noise Cancelation Headsets Work in the Cockpit? InTheHangar 

My buddy who is a well seasoned pilot, over 18,000 hours, told me when he flew in my plane and used my cheap headsets , he is used to bose, said he was ready to admit to killing Kennedy, said it was that much torture to wear them , said he would have admitted to anything to get them off 🤣

I got a very good noise cancelling headset about half way through my flight training and discovered my stress and anxiety decreased significantly, I emerged from an hour or two in the cockpit fresh and ready for more! I was nearly wiped out after a flight session wearing an old passive headset. At the time I was seriously considering whether or not I had the stuff to be a pilot, when all along I was just stressed out by the ambient noise!

Great video. Kudos to Allan for being informative and positive of the technology across the market without calling out one or the other. Very good information. Most have tried the two main competitors in the field and have made their choice. Neither are wrong. One is 'more right for you' based on head, expectation, needs, etc. I can say from personal experience that customer service from both companies is fantastic. We truly are in a 'best and bester' market. What a great win for pilots and the longevity of our hearing. Thank you Allan for you professionalism while building a truly quality product and company that drives great competition!

I’m really happy with the kit I installed in my old David Clark headset… it’s a simple kit to install and the passive function starts off well, and the active side makes it much quieter…

Another great episode as always Dan and Christy, thank you. Lots of quality content. Keep up the great work. 🤘🇺🇸🛩️

6:12 Arg! MBA Engineer mistake! 3 dB is not a 50% increase/decrease. It is _doubling_ or _halving_ of the acoustic energy. 85 -> 91 dB would be a 4x increase.

Great episode y'all

Interesting video and a great conversation to have, as turning the data related to this subject matter into real world usefulness is not easy for the layperson. Eg I note that most headset manufacturers don't seem to mention safety and hearing protection as such. I often associate brands such as Peltor with ear defenders for shooting or noisy work environments (I believe that their aviation headset range has been bought out by one of their ex directors and is marketed under another brand name now?) and headsets are for communication with ear defence/protection being secondary. That's my perception after reading lots of headset marketing etc. Believe me when I say that hearing - any sense - is very precious, I've a friend with profound single sided deafness (PSSD) and constant tinnitus (all from a viral infection) and other friends who've still not recovered their sense of smell or taste post SARS2 infection two years ago. Nice to hear a manufacturer talking about the subject.

Active noise reduction started in the 80’s when Bose made the first ANR headset for the voyager.

Very educational !

My first flight ever was for my 5th birthday in my Opa’s Cessna 172G, with the classic open speaker and handheld mike setup. I still remember vividly the rumble of the o300 mixed with atc chattering in the speaker, along with the smell of avgas mixed with Marlboros (1987, people were apparently less concerned about second hand back then). That said a quarter of a century of playing drums probably did more damage to my hearing 😜

I did a lot of flying in the 70's and 80's and back then many airplanes were not equipped with push-to-talk switches and most did not have intercom capability. To top it off the quality David Clarks were several hundred dollars which was well beyond the pocket book of most. The first Bose ANR was over $1000. As a result I have 1000 hours of single engine Cessna time and substantial hearing loss today. Today's pilots should consider a quality headset a no-go item.

Zulu 3’s love em

This is timely. The CFI that I fly with from time to time and we recently discussed noise cancelling headsets and whether or not they cause hearing loss. When we were discussing it I was on the fence as to whether that was true or not. Yesterday I put 2.2 hours (decimals are important lol) on the Hobbs of a C172RG. I flew with the "other brand" of headset. I can't claim that I was "testing the theory". I was just doing a VFR cross country (planned for KFMN, KGUP, KBDG KCEZ KFMN but I spent so much time "gawking" at the scenery of Canyon de Chelly so I ended up "taking a right" at a canyon west of Farmington, overflying Shiprock, and landing at Farmington). The purpose of the trip was to increase proficiency with the King avionics (GPS) and autopilot. When I started the aircraft I turned the noise cancelling on, called ground, get my taxi clearance, etc. So I know noise cancelling was on. When I got back to Farmington, I don't know how to describe the sound I heard after I shut down other than it's what happens any time I'm around loud sounds. AHA!! ANR does cause hearing loss!!! Yeah no. As I was putting the headset up I noticed that the headset had shut down :/ the batteries had died... I don't know when it turned off, probably early into the flight. I keep 3 sets of batteries in the case and I think I used the set that I had intended to throw away. I started flying with DC's. I still have them for passengers. My "passenger set" has gel seals (that are still good after all these years) and they work great. If I flew with non-pilots enough I'd get a set of Lightspeeds... You always do but you guys are knocking it out of the park with these interviews.

Love my Lightspeed Zulu's. One of these days I will try the cordless Tango's. My passengers usually suffer with my David Clark's.

I'm a 20 year veteran professional sound engineer and pilot. Lightspeed Zulu's are the best ANR headsets I've flown with. Best cancellation, best sound quality by far, and also more comfortable (for me) than the other brands.

Would have been good to get a breakdown on their different models and where the money's goes or is saved

Love my zulu’3. I have a set of a20’s also but prefer my zulus they fit my head better. The noise cancelling is the same in both, I cannot tell the difference in either one of them as far as quality goes for noise canceling. But as far as hot long trips that i take the light speed is my go to head set.

As a student pilot with both hearing loss and tinnitus I have to agree with the whole discussion on fatigue. When I finish a lesson my ears are not ringing more than usual, I can hear, understand and comprehend the debrief without asking; "can you repeat that?" And in general I am feeling like I did before the lesson started (less the exhilaration). I have the Lightspeed Sierra's, love them. Had a hard time with having 3 oz less weight in the Zulu's for an extra $200. Next wave of aviation headsets, less weight, lower cost, my 2 cents worth.

I wear hearing aids under my David Clarks. (it's a requirement of my medical) When I started training I rented a headset (Lightspeed) and it was a miserable experience. The next day I ordered my DCs. Modern digital hearing aids have compression circuits and multiple frequency channels that just don't seem to agree with ANR headsets. Now if they came out with a frequency tunable headset tailored to a persons hearing then you would have something.

And for these dB levels, “OSHA defines the hearing zone as a 2-foot-wide sphere surrounding the head,” so 12” from your ear, you can have A for B hours, C for D hours, E for F hours, etc. So X amount of noise *at the ear* is going to be worse for us than X amount at the defined limits 12” away. I just want to be ABLE to pretend not to hear in my old age 😉

What about if you in a experimental 2 stroke engine, how to you remedia the engine coming back into the mic, I have noise cancelling mic now, and still getting the motor noise.

Thank you, I love my Light speeds Zulu I have 2 sets.

Thumbnail comments, silenced! Good one Dan.

In the old days, I used DC’s with foam earplugs...does that give attenuation similar to ANR?

Unfortunately mine works so well that I cannot hear the stall warning buzzer it is not attached to the intercom. I turn off active in the pattern.

Great video. Sorry to say, I have noticed some loss of hearing.

I wonder about the difference between ANR and quality in-ears

Hey - so I've already subscribed... does that now prevent me from going deaf? :)

Do, not does. For headsets in general , it's do. For a particular headset, it's does. Because I am a horrible pedant for proper language I can't help it. Nevertheless this is great information and thank you.

Boom Boom! 💥

Personally I want to hear the tones of the engine. I wouldn’t want to fly with noise canceling. Lightspeed sets look really nice. Bryan bought the rugged radio set being the cheapest but their products are good and I wouldn’t have thought of them to be the cheapest. Edit: I am going to get a noise canceling headset for my passengers when I FINALLY get a plane.

Total clickbait - I thought BrYan was going to be here!

Well I guess Im throwing out my David Clarks now or give them to a passenger

Bose A20's > everything

Is you a native English speaker?

damn..I'm 4th...

BrYan tested cheapies, just as good as paying hundreds more for brand names!

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