Who writes this page?
I have taken this examination about twenty times, and I have performed most of the tests it contains from the other side. I describe the booth from the inside, and I explain the curve as I was taught to read a tracing. But I am not a doctor: I do not interpret any audiogram, and especially not yours.
In short
Your hearing is tested at every examination, but by a simple voice test. The audiogram, however, does not happen every year: it is required in class 1, and in class 2 only if you add an instrument rating. The threshold for the initial applicant in class 1: no more than 35 dB of loss at 500, 1000 or 2000 Hz, nor 50 dB at 3000 Hz, in each ear separately. And the point that changes everything for revalidation: the regulation expressly provides that an applicant whose loss exceeds these thresholds may demonstrate satisfactory functional hearing ability. This is a burden of proof, not an automatic authorisation, and it does not concern the initial applicant.
First: two different examinations, often mistaken for one another
The regulation is clear on the principle: hearing is tested at all examinations. It is written in black and white in point MED.B.080 of Annex IV to the European regulation. But "tested" does not mean "audiogram".
What happens at each visit is a voice test: understanding a conversational voice, each ear separately, at a distance of 2 metres, back turned. Simple, fast, without a machine. This precise protocol is not found in the regulation itself but in the Acceptable Means of Compliance (AMCs), published separately by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA); I was not able to collate the AMC text for this page, so I give it to you as the commonly described protocol, not as a quotation.
Pure-tone audiometry—the audiometer, the booth, the curve—follows a completely different schedule:
- Class 1: yes.
- Class 2: only if an instrument rating is added to the licence.
- Periodicity: at the initial examination, then every 5 years until age 40, then every 2 years.
Many pilots believe they take an audiogram every year. This is not the case, and knowing which of the two tests awaits you saves you from worrying for nothing.
Two clarifications, because the short formula "no audiogram in class 2 except IFR" is right in principle but misleading in practice. First, the trigger is the addition of an instrument rating to the licence (IR, or en route / basic rating according to the current terminology, the vocabulary has shifted in recent years), not the fact of flying on instruments. And when such a rating is added to a private licence, both the periodicity AND the class 1 thresholds apply. An IR holder who never flies on instruments is affected; a class 2 pilot who flies IFR without holding the rating is not.
Second, and this is a caveat that matters: the regulation opens a door across all classes. In case of hypoacusis, middle or inner ear disease, tympanic membrane perforation, tubal dysfunction, vestibular disorder or sequelae of ear surgery, a further examination is provided for. In practice: with an ENT history of this type, an audiogram may be requested of you even in class 2 without an instrument rating. (One also reads that failing the voice test is enough to trigger it: this detail comes from the UK authority's guidance, so I do not reproduce it as applicable law here.) And for tubal dysfunction or balance disorders, the assessment is done in consultation with the licensing authority's medical assessor, again without any instrument rating being involved.
The pilot's take, initial vs renewal
The initial class 1 examination is significantly more thorough and time-consuming. The doctor does not know you: they must explore everything, and the audiogram is more complete. For renewals, they know where you are starting from and target what needs to be: the whole process is much faster. It is not complacency, it is follow-up: they compare your curve to those of previous years. That is what I have seen done at every renewal.
Inside the booth: the process, from the door to the curve
The ones I have seen all looked alike. A small soundproof room (about the size of a department store fitting room, say 1.50m by 1.50m and 2.50m ceiling height) closed by a thick door. The interior is padded, usually with a dark, black carpet-like covering: sober, austere. A small window separates you from the doctor, sitting right across. You are on a chair, wearing a headset, with a push-button in your hand: the same kind as a patient call bell in a hospital.
The pilot's take: what you will really hear
You have to experience it to understand it, so here is the most accurate image I could find. At the lowest levels, the sounds sent to the headset are felt more than they are heard. It is exactly like a mosquito arriving from very far away in the middle of the night: long before you really hear it, you perceive that faint and weirdly intense vibration of its wings. It is not yet a sound; it is your ear warning you that something is approaching.
Knowing this in advance changes everything. You stop doubting, "did I hear it, or am I imagining it?", and you signal at the right time.
When the door closes, the outside disappears, exactly like when you put on an active noise reduction (ANR) headset: you can barely hear anything, to the point that if you concentrate, you perceive your own heart, like when you plug your ears with your fingers. The doctor gestures through the window to indicate it is starting. Personally, I close my eyes: without sight, I focus entirely on hearing.
Then the sounds arrive, sometimes on the left, sometimes on the right, sometimes both. At each frequency, the volume starts very low and rises very slowly until I perceive something, and then, I press. It is this threshold, ear by ear, that plots the curve. The whole thing lasts two to four minutes, hard to say as one is so focused. The results are immediate: as you exit, the doctor displays the graph on the screen and compares it to previous years.
Can you "cheat"? No. In all the tests I have taken, the sounds never came at regular intervals. Sometimes two in a row, sometimes nothing for ten or fifteen seconds. Impossible to anticipate by counting in your head, and that is precisely the point. A useful consequence to know: a silence does not mean your hearing is failing, it is often just a long interval. Do not let the blanks unsettle you.
Reading the curve: the decoder
An audiogram is read like a tracing, a bit like an ECG, on paper or on screen. Two axes, and a colour convention.
| What you see | How it is read |
|---|---|
| Horizontal axis | The frequencies, in hertz. Like a piano keyboard: the low notes on the left, the high notes on the right (500, 1000, 2000, 3000 Hz...). |
| Vertical axis | The volume, in decibels. Right at the top, the faintest sounds. The further down you go, the more volume it took for you to hear. |
| Red circles | Right ear. This is the convention. |
| Blue crosses | Left ear. |
| A roughly flat and high line | The tracing of a hearing that did not need volume to hear. |
| A curve that dips in the high frequencies (around 3, 4, 6 kHz) | The profile classically associated with acoustic trauma—exposure to noise, cockpit included. It is a profile, not a diagnosis. Note: the regulation only sets numerical thresholds at 500, 1000, 2000 and 3000 Hz. Higher frequencies, 4 and 6 kHz, where the literature locates noise-related damage, do not have a regulatory threshold. What is actually measured during the examination falls under the protocol, hence the AMC which I was not able to collate: I do not state it. |
The reading direction is surprising the first time: as the doctor gradually increases the volume and you eventually perceive the sound, the point is plotted lower the louder your ear needed it to be. It is not a severity scale: the next section explains why.
The core trap: "normal" and "fit" are not the same thing
This is the most costly confusion on the subject: it makes people read an audiogram with the wrong grid.
The clinical benchmark of "normality", roughly, thresholds between -10 and 20 dB HL ("HL" for hearing level: the level referenced to normal hearing), is not the fitness threshold. For the licence, what matters are the Part-MED thresholds: 35 dB and 50 dB for initial class 1, detailed just below. In other words: one can fall outside "clinical normality" and remain perfectly within regulatory criteria.
If a hearing aid acoustician or an app tells you of a "mild loss", this vocabulary is clinical. It says nothing about your fitness file. Do not draw any conclusions from your curve alone, this is the role of your AME, the approved aeromedical examiner, and only them. (For a class 1 initial, the examination takes place in an approved aeromedical centre, an AeMC.)
The thresholds: how far can it go?
| Situation | What the regulation provides |
|---|---|
| Initial applicant, class 1 (and class 2 if an instrument rating is added to the licence) | No loss greater than 35 dB at 500, 1000 or 2000 Hz, nor greater than 50 dB at 3000 Hz, in each ear separately. |
| Revalidation or renewal The line to remember with greater loss | The text expressly provides that the applicant may demonstrate satisfactory functional hearing ability. It is neither a second numerical threshold, nor a simple favour from the AME: it is a regulatory provision. |
| Hypoacusis noted | Further examination establishing that the condition does not interfere with the safe exercise of the privileges. |
| Who decides next | Class 1: the applicant is referred to the medical assessor of the licensing authority. Class 2: fitness is assessed in consultation with the medical assessor, including without an instrument rating for tubal dysfunction and vestibular disorders. A European mechanism, not a national peculiarity. |
Three words to distinguish, because everything depends on it: initial is the first time; revalidation is taking the examination in the 45 days preceding expiry; renewal is outside this window, whether too early or too late. ⚠️ The demonstration path in the second row does NOT apply to the initial. An applicant taking their first examination is bound by the numerical thresholds, with no alternative.
And the "medical assessor" is the doctor at the licensing authority, the DGAC in France, who decides cases that an AME cannot conclude alone. If their decision is not in your favour, ways to appeal exist: see unfitness and appeal.
The line to remember from the table is the second one. It is more favourable to the pilot than what is generally read: exceeding a threshold at revalidation is not the end of the discussion, it is the beginning of a demonstration provided for by the text.
An obsolete figure is still circulating: 20 dB. It comes from the old FCL 3, the JAR-FCL standard of the JAA, implemented in France by the decree of 27 January 2005, which cited 20 dB at 500/1000/2000 Hz and 35 dB at 3000 Hz at initial. These values are no longer in force since the transition to the European Part-MED. If you come across "20 dB" in a document or on a forum, you are reading an outdated text. ⚠️ Be careful not to confuse: that 20 dB was a fitness threshold, it has nothing to do with the 20 dB HL of clinical normality mentioned above.
"My curve is not perfect", should I be worried?
Hearing that is not perfect is not synonymous with unfitness. First, because the regulatory thresholds leave a real margin compared to the clinical normal. Second, because exceeding them opens a pathway—further examination, referral, or consultation—rather than an automatic refusal. And because at revalidation, the regulation provides this functional demonstration pathway.
What I will not do is tell you how often the outcome is favourable. There are no public statistics on this, and on a fitness issue, one does not replace a missing figure with a reassuring impression. I describe a pathway; I do not promise a result.
The pilot's take: the first time
The first time, you are easily unsettled: the dark booth, the feeling of being locked "in a fridge", and those sounds that are more vibrations than clear sounds. Some people somewhat fail their first attempt simply because they are thrown off, and doctors know it.
Yours is right behind the glass. Wave at them, tell them something is wrong: they will explain it again, and the second attempt generally goes much better. For renewals, when you know what to expect, it is disconcertingly easy.
Arriver en terrain connu : le pré-test à la maison
Un test d'audition grand public (AirPods Pro, iPhone) donne une courbe de la même forme qu'un audiogramme. Utile pour arriver en terrain connu, mais ce n'est pas un examen d'aptitude : seul l'audiogramme officiel compte.
Les AirPods Pro 2 et 3 intègrent un test auditif fondé sur l'audiométrie tonale : la même logique de sons purs que la cabine, qui donne un résultat en dB HL par oreille et un audiogramme exportable. La fonction est arrivée avec iOS 18.1 fin 2024 sur les Pro 2, et les Pro 3, sortis en septembre 2025, la reprennent.
Ce n'est pas un examen médical, Apple le présente lui-même comme un outil non diagnostique. Mais c'est un excellent moyen de se familiariser avec l'exercice avant le jour J, et de suivre son audition dans le temps.
- Le bon matériel. AirPods Pro 2 ou 3 : les autres modèles ne proposent pas la fonction.
- Des embouts propres. Du cérumen dans un embout, et le résultat est faussé.
- Pas enrhumé. Avec un rhume ou une infection des sinus, on entend forcément moins bien.
- Oreilles reposées. Surtout pas après un concert ou un environnement bruyant : la fatigue auditive temporaire dégrade le test.
- Au calme absolu. Au moindre bruit ambiant, impossible de se concentrer sur des sons à la limite du perceptible.
- Plusieurs fois. À quelques jours d'intervalle, matin et soir, dans différents lieux, pour voir si votre perception varie.
Je l'utilise régulièrement, et il colle d'assez près à mes audiogrammes de renouvellement classe 1. C'est une impression, pas une comparaison chiffrée : je n'ai pas encore mis les deux tracés côte à côte. Ce n'est donc ni une validation scientifique ni une invitation à comparer les vôtres.
Le casque n'est pas un confort
La meilleure façon de garder une bonne courbe, c'est de ne pas l'abîmer. L'exposition au bruit du cockpit dégrade l'audition dans les aigus : la zone que la littérature associe au traumatisme sonore (3, 4, 6 kHz). Un casque à réduction active du bruit (ANR) réduit l'exposition au bruit en vol : le sujet est traité en détail dans la page audition.
Décoder son audiogramme, c'est comprendre pourquoi le casque n'est pas un accessoire de confort mais un équipement de protection. Votre audiogramme, c'est le bilan ; le casque, c'est la prévention. Le sujet est traité dans la page audition du pilote.
Questions fréquentes
L'audiogramme est-il obligatoire à chaque visite médicale ?
Faut-il une audition parfaite pour être pilote ?
Que se passe-t-il si je dépasse un seuil auditif ?
Quelle est la différence entre audition normale et audition apte ?
Peut-on tricher à l'audiogramme ?
Combien de temps dure le test en cabine ?
Le test auditif des AirPods Pro peut-il remplacer l'audiogramme de la visite ?
J'ai raté mon premier passage en cabine, est-ce grave ?
Les seuils auditifs sont-ils les mêmes partout en Europe ?
Pour aller plus loin
Cette page traite un poste précis de la visite. Pour l'ensemble : la page d'ensemble sur la visite médicale (classes, validités, plafonds d'âge), l'audition du pilote (bruit du cockpit et protection), préparer sa visite, et si un point pose problème, inaptitude et recours. Sur la vision, le pendant de cette page : daltonisme et vision des couleurs. Le hub : santé du pilote.
Les pages du Labo restent en accès libre, celle-ci comprise. À côté, il existe désormais un guide payant : le rétroplanning avant la visite, les questions précises à poser à l'AME, les annexes par pays. Rien de ce qui est gratuit aujourd'hui ne passera derrière un paiement.
Un tracé, ça se lit. Une visite, ça se prépare.
Vous savez lire vos deux axes. Le jour J, l'audiogramme n'est qu'un poste parmi huit, et ce qui déstabilise les candidats, c'est l'enchaînement, pas l'examen pris isolément.
Le guide déroule la visite entière : ce que l'examinateur regarde à chaque poste, les erreurs évitables, et la question à poser avant.
Voir le guide, 59 €