Skydiving with tinnitus?

[pleasedtomeet 0]

Hey all,

So i'm very interested in doing my first jump soon. However, unfortunately I have tinnitus. It's pretty mild, but I would like to protect my hearing since i'm still young (28).

I wear custom-fitted earplugs to concerts, movies, loud bars etc. They reduce the sound by 25dB. How loud does it get during freefall? I'm wondering if 25dB is enough of a reduction. Also, the earplugs do not have a little hole in the middle to let air in. Is this going to be a problem, with the pressure difference and all?

Thanks for your responses!

[FlyingRhenquest 1]

I've seen several people using those orange foam ones, but don't know when they put them in. A skydive is loud, but not as loud as an indoor skydiving wind tunnel. I lost an earplug halfway through a session in there one time without noticing it. That wasn't fun, but didn't seem to do any lasting damage either.

If you do use earplugs, just make sure you can hear your instructor on the plane. During AFF they usually check with you to make sure you can remember the dive flow and stuff. Plane's pretty loud too, by the way. That might actually do more damage to your hearing than the skydives, over time.

I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

[pleasedtomeet 0]

Thanks for the info. Yeah, I always wear my earplugs on airplanes as well. Are planes for skydiving louder than your standard commercial plane?

[VideoFly 0]

My tinnitus was severe before ever skydiving and it is still severe. Most of my jumps are with an open face helmet and I don't think that skydiving has negatively affected my hearing problems. In time, like I have done, you may learn to enjoy the sounds of sitting in a springtime medow, no matter where you are.

[wmw999 2,134]

I have tinnitus as well (don't know how to classify severity), and have been jumping for years. Skydiving makes it worse, but my hearing is still better than most jumpers my age .
I've worn foam plugs from ground to ground for the last fifteen years. They definitely help, and I've never had an issue with them. I just keep a pair in my helmet, put them in when the plane is taxiing in, and take them out on the ground.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[sundevil777 94]

i would predict that instructors would prefer you not wear foam type earplugs for student jumps, but the "filtering" type of plugs (is that what you mean by "custom"?) would I think be more likely to be accepted. Be sure to discuss this with them early in the training.

Many of the filtering type of earplugs stick out quite a lot, so they don't work well with helmets. The link below shows a type that are low profile and somewhat popular as shown in the thread. I also have tinnitus and don't want it to get worse. I also think concentrating is easier when not bombarded by such high noise levels.

Large commercial planes are very quiet compared to what you'll be flying in for a jump.

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4083263#4083263

People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

[JohnnyBoulder 1]

I have moderate tinnitus and moderate to severe hearing loss in the upper frequencies. I do not wear earplugs because people do talk in the plane. I tend to avoid social conversations, but often there is some communication about the dive plan, notes on jump run speed, etc. etc. I have enough trouble hearing in general and with a full face helmet.

That said, I see folks wearing foam ear plugs and they do not seem to have any issues hearing such chatter.

I also have two audible altimeters in my helmet with the exact same altitude warning settings, both on the highest volume. Again, I am concerned ear plugs would muffle those sounds, but those that wear ear plugs say they have no issues. My case may be different due to the hearing loss.

It would be interesting to stick a sound meter inside a G3, but not sure how that is going to happen. I find outside the aircraft boarding to be the loudest, followed by take off. Wind tunnels are loud and I always wear earplugs there.

Perhaps I need to revisit the subject with my audiologist. I look around and see many jumper who have been jumping for years and they don't appear to be hard of hearing. So I have just done without them during skydiving.

[pleasedtomeet 0]

Skydiving has made it worse, even though you've used earplugs for 15 years? Crazy...I wonder how loud it gets during freefall then and if any studies have been conducted on this issue.

[jonstark 8]

I've had it for as long as I can remember. Skydiving has made it no better or worse. I have worn yellow foam squishy earplugs since about 1984. They equalize just fine. I had a pair of custom plugs made that don't work half as well. I would recommend the squishies while jumping from start to finish.

Jon

[pleasedtomeet 0]

Thanks for all the responses. These are the earplugs I use. They are designed for musicians & concerts, but they work very well in any other situation i've been in.
http://www.etymotic.com/consumer/hearing-protection/erme.html

My only concern is that these ones seem to completely seal the ear. Could this be a concern due to rapid pressure changes?

[riggerrob 558]

Skydiving is a complex environment for hearing protection. You need to protect your ears against the 100 decibal + noise in the airplane and freefall, but then need clear ears for the parachute ride.
Skydiving airplanes are noticeably louder than commercial airliners. First, most jump-planes lack the structure, sealed windows, etc. for pressurization. Even jump-planes that could be pressurized when new (King Air) have usually been stripped / gutted by the time they are old enough to fly jumpers. Jumpers are rough on interiors, so Cessna jump-planes usually lose their fancy interior upholstery (read sound-proofing) soon after they start hauling jumpers. Expect more than 100 decibels inside a jump-plane.

Most hearing damage occurs during the 15 to 30 minute airplane ride, so many senior jumpers only remove their ear-plugs during the last 5 minutes of the airplane ride. They stuff their ear-plugs into a pocket in their helmet or jumpsuit.
Free-fall is also louder than 100 db, but lasts a minute at most. Free fall noise largely depends upon how well the lower edge of your helmet seals around your ears. The tighter the seal, the less wind and the less noise gets in. Helmet choice is individual and best decided by trying on a half dozen popular models to determine which model best fits your skull.

Half-shell helmets are the noisiest, which explains why 1/2 shells are not very popular for skydiving. Open ear (Pro-Tec) are popular at skydiving schools because they are easy to mount (receive only) radio speakers inside. Better-equipped schools insist that students wear radios for their first half- dozen jumps. The sooner the students demonstrate decent landings, the less instructors say over the radio.
Students are always impressed with how quiet the canopy ride is after the hustle and bustle of the airplane ride and free fall. After checking their canopy, the second thing they do is equalize the pressure in their ears by using the Valsalva technique, popular with scuba divers. I have have been able to do the Valsalva technique with all types of foam ear-plugs and even with the fancy metal "Sonic 2" plugs.
For a few years, I even wore industrial, foam ear-plugs on a string, just so that I could pull out one plug after opening, the better to hear my tandem students.
Wind tunnels are an excellent place to practice the basics of free fall and an excellent place to test helmet and ear-plug combinations. Before your first tunnel session, collect two or three different types of ear-plugs and explain to tunnel instructors that you want to swap-out the different types of ear-plugs. Tunnel staff will then swap you out with another client so that you get the occasional two minute rest, just long enough to swap ear plugs.

[skydiverek 56]

I have started jumping with earplugs. Here are the key things:

- air pressure equalizes inside your head, not outside your head, so earplugs do not affect this process (as far as I know, there are no natural holes in the ear-drum for the air to pass thru) - please correct me if I am wrong.

- buy the highest NRR rated ear-plugs (NRR33 is the highest one possible). BUT, not all NRR33 rated earplugs block the same amount of noise at DIFFERENT frequencies. I have done a lots of research the 'Moldex' disposable foam earplugs (used in NASCAR) are THE BEST. Check the dB table in the PDF for a given model:
http://www.moldex.com/hearing-protection/foam-earplugs/

- do not reuse foam earplugs. 'One jump-one pair' will keep you away from ear infections

- buy the CORDED version. That way, you can remove the earplugs from underneath the helmet, after the opening, by pulling the cord (tuck it neatly under the helmet for freefall). With earplugs removed under canopy, you will not be deaf during the canopy collisions and command exchange with another jumper ('you cutaway!', etc)

- freefall noise is over 120 dB, airplane can be over 100 dB, Optima is 120 dB. On an average skydiving day you are exceeding your daily noise quota (measured in minutes) many, many times, permanently damaging your hearing

- there is no cure for deafness (apart from hearing aids...), or for tinnitus (constant 'ringing in the ears')

- set your Optima canopy alarms to Volume "1", and the far-most left pitch (if you take your earplugs out, under canopy)

- once you fly the airplane and jump wearing the earplugs, you will not want to do it again without them. It is like jumping with and without goggles

- you are less worn-out after the day of skydiving

- you can actually hear people BETTER in the airplane (the 'bad' engine noise is canceled, and the human voice is filtered and passed thru - pretty neat, huh? :-) )

- read this whole thread:
http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_view_flat;post=4059225;page=1;mh=-1;;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC

[DrDom 0]

I have tinnitus and use the same musician plugs. There are several phases of times that will be an issue. The plane ride first, the freefall is also quite loud, and then you will need to free yourself from it while under canopy. Now, I would say that although hearing is good to have under canopy I think that my VERY LIMITED experience was I could hear the radio with my musician plugs well enough to make sense, and keeping your head "on a swivel" is extremely important.

Although my skydive experience is limited, I do powered paragliding as well and even in crowded skies I have no sense of hearing between the radio and the engine.

I prefer to have as much hearing protection as possible, but that's my personal opinion. Maybe some of the higher time jumpers can speak more to how important hearing is while under canopy but my experience in other avenues of aviation has been that hearing takes a substantial back seat to vision and attention.

You are not the contents of your wallet.

[wmw999 2,134]

Comprehensive and excellent post.

BTW, while I've been using earplugs for the last 15 years, I didn't use them for the first 13 I was skydiving, and that was with an open face helmet. Any sustained noise, particularly loud, exacerbates the tinnitus.

I keep my head on a swivel during canopy flight; I used to take one out when on a bigway. Sometimes it'd make it back into my pocket, sometimes if things were too exciting, it'd just get dropped. Stuff happens.

And yes, I'm way more relaxed at the end of the day when it's been quieter. And I focus better in freefall as well.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[kallend 1,635]

I have tinnitus which I got from years of flying small planes. I wear earplugs ground to ground when skydiving.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[skyjumpenfool 2]

Hope this (attached) will help.
This was printed in Parachutist a few years back...

The part I find most distressing deals with the low frequency noise like airplane engines produce.

Birdshit & Fools Productions

"Son, only two things fall from the sky."