Phonak Communications

Swiss ex-ice-hockey player Jean-Louis Locher spent several years and over one hundred thousands Swiss francs (US $90,000+) following his dream of becoming a helicopter pilot. He began flying full-time for Swiss aviation and rescue company Air Glaciers, based in the Swiss Alpine region of Sion, in 1985.

“In the beginning I flew for our client Gaznat, the Swiss gas supplier, verifying its pipelines across the Southern half of Switzerland. I then became Air Glaciers’ agricultural pilot, treating vineyards such as Chardogne and Blonay,” Locher explains. “Since then my work has being very varied. I’ve flown every type of helicopter flight, from winter ski accident pick-ups and summer canyon rescues to transporting construction materials and tourist flights”.

Hearing a problem

Between 1985 and 2008 Jean-Louis clocked up 11,100 flying hours and over 7000 landings, but like a great many pilots in his position he didn’t employ any form of adapted hearing protection.

“I wore my usual helmet, but I didn’t use any specific in-ear product,” Locher says. “This seemed the normal approach and I didn’t really think twice about it.”

In recent years however he began to notice a deterioration in his hearing. It started with the onset of tinnitus – a frustrating ringing in the ears - which he began noticing most of the time. A subsequent audiogram test with an audiologist then confirmed the beginnings of a hearing loss.

“I would see a bird outside but not be able to hear it,” he says, “and with the ringing too, I knew something was seriously wrong.”

It was Jean-Louis’ insurer that issued him with the starkest of warnings. With the Swiss aviation authority requiring each pilot to pass a regular physical exam to retain his flying license (an exam that includes a hearing check), the situation was clear: if his hearing loss continued to develop he would lose his license to fly within just a couple of years.

At 52 years of age and looking to fly through to retirement at 65, Locher wasn’t about to risk that: “I simply don’t know what I’d do if I lost my license. This job is my life.”

Choosing the right protection

Conscious of the urgent need to find high quality hearing protection, he enlisted the help of local supplier Sigmacom to find the right system.

This protection needed to be: truly ergonomic, for comfortable all-day use; able to reliably attenuate (or dampen) dangerous loud noises such as the roar of a helicopter’s engine; easy to connect to in-flight NATO communications systems and, ideally, able to provide full ambient awareness - allowing normal communications and speech without Jean-Louis needing to remove his protection and further endanger his hearing.

"Locher tried traditional ear plugs first, but these simply cut out all the noise, which was far from ideal," reports Air Glaciers' Safety Officer, Patrick Fauchère.

A subsequent conversation with telecommunications specialist Olivier Amoos however put Locher in touch with Phonak. Phonak’s hearing protection sales manager, Aline Kurth, explains: “We talked to Jean-Louis and he visited our Murten headquarters to discuss his requirements in-depth. He needed an intelligent, adaptable, reliable system that would protect him comfortably for hours at a time, so we soon realized that our Serenity DP level-dependent hearing protection system would be the perfect fit.”

Serenity DP (Dynamic Protection) features custom-molded ear shaped shells ('eShells'), which fit comfortably in the user’s ear. Inside these eShells sit Phonak’s proprietary earJacks, which connect to a compact neck-worn control unit.

“Serenity DP is a so-called 'dynamic' system because it provides the exact protection the user requires,” Kurth explains. “It uses tiny microphones to ‘hear’ and measure the surrounding noise, and adapts its attenuation instantly to this. So in quieter environments, such as on the airfield between takeoffs, Jean-Louis has full ambient awareness and can communicate normally with his colleagues, but whenever the surrounding noise level rises above 85 decibels, Serenity DP immediately reduces the sound Locher is exposed to down to a safe level.”

Once Locher had been supplied with his custom-molded nylon eShells (via a quick five-minute fitting process), Phonak’s technical team fitted a different connector to the main DP control unit in order to connect this to Air Glaciers’ helicopters’ communications system. The team also further fine-tuned Serenity to reduce the incoming volume level of the helicopter’s radio communications to an appropriately safe level. Thereafter Jean-Louis was able to hear radio communications through his Serenity eShell loudspeakers, while speaking back to flight controllers using his crash helmet’s usual boom microphone.

Trial experience

Jean-Louis then trialed Serenity DP during his vineyard flights in early 2008.

“It was just fantastic,” he says. “The system was easy-to-use, comfortable, and it protected me both inside the cabin and outside the helicopter. I wore it regularly for six hours or more; no noises sounded too loud and I could communicate normally.”

As a result of his trial’s success, in May 2008 he began using Phonak’s solution full-time, flying 150 hours over vineyards alone with Serenity DP.

“I now have exceptional hearing when I’m flying. It’s like flying in cotton wool, and it’s comfortable too so I’m less tired in the evenings,” Locher adds. 

Having seen the benefits the Serenity system offers, Fauchère has subsequently signed up his nine other helicopter pilots for similar protection.

“By providing these pilots with Serenity DP, we’re not only safeguarding their hearing and potentially extending their careers, but we’re also improving our company’s performance,” Fauchère explains. “During a rescue for instance, if the pilot needs to hover over the scene with the aircraft’s door open, he can now speak with people inside the aircraft and hear them normally over the noise. He can also hear tower communications, flight assistants and in-flight doctors more clearly. These improvements are of great benefit to us. We've basically increased the communication level, and communication is safety."

For Jean-Louis Locher, Serenity DP has prolonged what could well have been a career cut short, enabling him to keep doing the work he loves.

“My one regret,” he concludes, “is that I didn’t know about this product before I suffered my hearing loss.”

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