Cabin crew hearing test and the medical: what the audiometry checks, what fails, and mild hearing loss in one ear
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#1 A regular question in the DMs from the medical threads, so here is the hearing part of the cabin crew medical explained by someone who has done nine annual medicals and helped a colleague through a borderline result.
Why hearing is tested
You need to hear the evacuation commands, the interphone, the alarm tones and the passenger in the last row over engine noise. The regulators (CASA, CAA NZ, EASA, the FAA for the US carriers that test) set a standard and the airline medical applies it.
What the test is
Audiometry: headphones in a quiet room, tones at different frequencies and volumes, press the button when you hear one. Both ears. It takes ten minutes. The examiner is looking at the threshold at each frequency in each ear.
What passes
Under EASA the cabin crew standard is more lenient than the pilot one. Broadly, mild loss is accepted, particularly at the high frequencies, and the examiner has discretion. Under CASA and CAA NZ it is similar. In the US there is no single federal hearing test for cabin crew, the airlines set their own and most are pragmatic.
What fails
Significant loss across the speech frequencies in both ears. A single ear with severe loss is a discussion, not an automatic failure: my colleague had moderate loss in one ear from a childhood infection and passed with a note on the file and a functional test (the examiner talked to her from behind at a normal volume and she responded correctly). That functional test is the thing to know about. If the numbers are borderline, the examiner can and often will assess whether you actually function in the cabin.
Hearing aids
Allowed at some airlines and regulators, not at others. There is a thread on here from someone with a hearing aid in one ear who was hired in Europe. In New Zealand it is case by case. In the Gulf, from what crew tell me, it is a harder conversation. Ask the airline's medical department directly and in writing before the assessment.
Tinnitus
Common among long haul crew after years and not a failure. It is asked about on the questionnaire. Be honest and say it does not affect your function.
Practical advice
Do not go to the medical with a cold or after a loud concert. Both shift the result. If you know you have a loss, get your own audiogram first so you walk in knowing the numbers. And if you are borderline, ask for the functional assessment by name.
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#2 Lufthansa, German AME, and the audiometry is exactly as described. A colleague with one ear loss passed on the functional test. The examiner literally stood behind her and asked her the date.
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#3 United, and the US airlines mostly do a basic screen at the pre employment physical and rely on the annual questionnaire after. Far less formal than EASA. If you have mild loss, the US carriers are the pragmatic option.
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#4 Air NZ too, and the do not go with a cold advice is real. I nearly failed year three because of a sinus infection and had to retest a fortnight later. Passed easily.