I've been tasked with solving a problem. It involves my wife and our 4 month old baby. My wife is really aching to go flying, but she doesn't want to leave the baby behind because she would not enjoy the trip. She also doesn't want to risk damaging our child's hearing. The problem is the lightest ear muffs that I have do not stay on and a 4 month old's ear canals are a little small for foam plugs.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? Is there anything we can do other than wait?

The kid will be a teenager eleven years and eight months from now, and won't listen to a damn thing you say anyway, so take 'em flying.

We used knit pullover caps when the kids were real little, then graduated to kids headsets as soon as they got big enough. That was over 30 years ago now, and their hearing is just fine, and we used airplanes more than we did cars.

Gump

I had the same concern about our (now) 17-month old. I asked around at some of the Anchorage air taxis that serve the villages. The unanimous reply was to put them in the back of the A/C under all the jackets. Here's an alternative we found: http://www.cirrushealthcare.com/EarPlanes-C8.aspx - the children's size are advertised for 1-5 years old, but we used them earlier with no hassle. They are good quality silicone, with ability to equalize pressure. Have also used cotton, and the basic shop hearing protector earmuffs that you mention. Once the engine starts and it gets all warm and loud and vibrating, our little girl seems to go right to sleep, which makes it a lot easier to keep the muffs on. Good luck.

-DP

These might work: http://www.safeandsoundpets.com/index.html

We experimented with a lot of different things for our infant son. Our best success was when we put regular adult size Lightspeeds on his head with a soft book or two between his head and the headband to make it fit.

You can get a soft version of the already great big and soft ear seals for those headsets. You can also plug in audio feed for any entertainment gadget you might want directly in to the ANR box. That way, you won't have to listen to Barney yourself, which is important to flight safety.

They’re comfortable and he was happy. Mom was happy because he had the benefit of ANR. I’m happy because he's still wearing them and can wear them for the rest of his life (probably not much of a stretch considering Lightspeed has the best customer service I’ve ever experienced from anyone on anything.)

Of course, we all grew up with lap belts (maybe), no helmets for anything except football (maybe) and plain old passive headsets. My wife thinks I must have some hearing loss because I often have trouble hearing her. There might even be some truth to that.

CAVU

we used a little Fargo looking big fuzzy hat for our once little guy (6 weeks)Tied around the chin so it would not come off,you could also stuff more stuff around the ears with a hat....seemed to work pretty good ( he never said any thing about the noise) or maybe It didnt work he is 6 now and cant seem to hear a word I say, Little punk

denalipilot wrote:I asked around at some of the Anchorage air taxis that serve the villages. The unanimous reply was to put them in the back of the A/C under all the jackets.

Hahaha...this made me laugh. Those Inuit babies must have had a rough start to life.

I just take a tube of silicone caulk and fill their little ears full.
tom

ps. I tried to seal off their little hinny, too, but the silicone can't handle the pressure.

There is an outfit that makes earmuffs for dogs, the real small skull size of a medium to large doggie should work fine for a baby. They also have extra bands to keep them in place.

Well mine are 19 and 15 now and both have been flying since day 1. Never used any type of hearing protection at all when the were small. We wouldn't get 2 miles out of the pattern and they would be sound asleep. Years later nothings changed. Sound asleep with their MP3 player on.

The noise in the Cessnas I've flown haven't been bad at all. So it was really never a concern. Main reason I wear a headset is the speakers in the plane are a POS and I couldn't understand the radio traffic. Then having a 4 place intercom system is nice too.

C ya, Bub

When I was growing up, some of the kids used Silly Putty to put in their ears when they went swimming to keep the water out. It might work for little ears and keep the noise out too.



Blessings,

Mark

JRStripe wrote:I've been tasked with solving a problem. It involves my wife and our 4 month old baby. My wife is really aching to go flying, but she doesn't want to leave the baby behind because she would not enjoy the trip. She also doesn't want to risk damaging our child's hearing. The problem is the lightest ear muffs that I have do not stay on and a 4 month old's ear canals are a little small for foam plugs.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? Is there anything we can do other than wait?

I sure wouldn't take the little guy flying without hearing protection. I think the damage is cumulative and permanent. Try cutting strips off the foam ear plugs lengthwise to reduce the diameter (the kind you roll between your fingers to make small enough to insert). This should work well. Just be sure not to insert them too far, but far enough to block the noise.

If you don't mind spending a few bucks, you could ask your doc.

bumper

Yeah...a set of MuttMuffs should do the trick...then maybe a box of the small size MilkBones to keep the kid happy on longer X-country jaunts

CAVU wrote:We experimented with a lot of different things for our infant son. Our best success was when we put regular adult size Lightspeeds on his head with a soft book or two between his head and the headband to make it fit.

CAVU

I did the same type of thing, but instead of wedging a book or other object under the headband I used a roll of Coban (Cohesive Bandage) wrapped around the headband. Coban is very light, and very cheap, usually available at any pharmacy for a couple of bucks a roll. If you have a princess/diva in training and color is important, most good tack or animal supply stores sell the same stuff in various colors.

My older son basically grew up in my shop surrounded by howling machines. From the time he could get his hands around one, he spent countless hours using random orbit and orbital sanders. I just dropped him off at the university and he can still hear both his instructors and his mother, although the female-voice-attenuating/selective-hearing component on his "Y-Chromosome" is starting to kick in. I used a good set of David Clark passive hearing protectors with the Coban

Got your answer! Both my kids have been flying with me since they were new born, they are 4 and 8 now. We took those tapered soft ear plugs (the green kind) and with sissors cut them lengthwise in about halfs or thirds, then you can roll it up real small in your fingers (lengthwise) until it is about the diameter of a toothpick, insert it in the ear canal, and it expands to fit. My sister is an audiologist and recommended it. They stick out nice and far so they are easy to pull out. The kids look like little martians with the green things sticking out from their ears, but I think it works. Oh, and put a hat on them to keep them from grabbing and pulling them out. Forget headsets till they are about 2. Then get a set of peltor headsets. They fit little heads real well, and will grow with them. Get the gel earseals on them. The kids headsets are cheap junk and not worth anything. Got a pair somewhere if you want them, but get the peltors. Start em young. My kids get about 50 hours a year in the plane, and its all second nature to them. Russ

We used cotton balls in our daughters ears, and pulled a knit hat down low over her ears. It seemed to work fine. In a former life, I worked as an engineer for a hearing aid manufacturer, and take hearing protection pretty seriously, but I felt comfortable with our method until she can wear a headset of some sort.

Peltor junior ear muffs.

One other thing, when they are small and in the car seat in the plane (which they should be). the ear muffs don't fit in most car seats, it tends to push the muffs up around their cheeks and make the JR pilot very unhappy. This remains a problem till they are about 4 or 5. A chinstrap for earmuffs would work:)

Hi Gang - First posting here.
Anyway, I took my daughter flying when she was just 6 months old for the first time and we did the same thing as shaving down the earplugs. She is now 6 and we have a Red Baron headset for her. She loves to hear herself sing on the intercom. We have always put her in a 5-point harness carseat as well (just in case)...

Thanks for all the suggestions. I had planed on trying one of them out this weekend and reporting back, but when you belong to a flying club you can't always choose the days you fly.

We asked our doctor at the four month check/immunization. He didn't have much to say other than hearing protection was a good idea. I'm thinking that cutting down the expanding foam ear plugs and putting a hat on her sounds like it would be worth a shot. It is definitely cheap, which I like.