Ear defenders on a flight?

[mimi14]

My son has ASD and we're soon about to go on his first flight. He was planning on wearing his ear defenders, but one of my friends said that the pressure during take off / landing could cause his ear drums to burst if wearing ear defenders.
Is there any logic to this or is she talking nonsense?

You can’t wear headphones for take off/landing as you need to be able to hear emergency instructions.

They're not headphones, they're ear defenders, he can still hear perfectly but it blocks out background sounds, but generally just makes him feel calmer.

But the staff may say he can’t wear them

His eardrums won't burst. That is nonsense.

Loads of people wear headphones and earphones during takeoff. I’ve never heard an association with burst eardrums. I always listen to music during takeoff as it’s my least favourite part and have never been asked to take them out.

And the cabin crew don't make people remove head phones to listen to them. They just suggest it may be a good idea.

You only need to listen when they're doing the safety briefing. You can have your headphones on the rest of the time.

Oh, I needed a good laugh.

I have never seen flight attendants ask anyone to remove headphones during takeoff or landing.

plenty of people wear noise canceling headphones on flights

pretty sure his eardrums will be fine.

when I was shopping around for noise cancelling headphones, one place actually had a demo room where they played different background noise scenarios so you could test the noise cancelling function.

they said the most often requested scenario was the ‘sitting in a plane‘ noise.

so, yeah. This is so common it’s kind of assumed you’d want to know

Really?

I've been on plenty of flights where the stewards have told people to remove headphones to listen to the safety instructions. I've been asked to myself.

This is just fundamentally untrue. I've never been asked/told to remove headphones, I travel by plane almost monthly and wear headphones from when I sit down to when I disembark. I get through an unreasonable amount of podcasts.

Same - budget and package holiday flights. Not just for the safety instructions, but for take-off too. Maybe it was a while ago ...

Last year, I took noise cancelling headphones, and they're on my packing list for every trip now.

I use my AirPods to cancel out noise

The safety instructions and takeoff are not the same thing.

also if they ask someone with a disability to remove ear defenders during the safety instructions, that person or their companion should just simply explain the need. The instructions can be read from the card.

🤣🤣

how do they know you’re not deaf?

What a lot of nonsense!

My son wears ear defenders, about 50% of the time and we take lots of flights. They are brightly coloured and easily distinguished as ear defenders.

We fly a lot and have never been asked to remove them.

I was asked to move mine just last month on a flight from Singapore.

But I suspect a quiet word beforehand about then will suffice, and no his ear drums won't burst... the pilots wear them for take off don't they?

DH is a pilot, half of this thread is absolute nonsense. No, your earphones/headphones aren’t going to make your ears explode. Whoever came up with that thought needs to wise up!!

half of this thread is absolute nonsense

Agreed.

Pilots wear headphones for pretty much the whole flight, as do many passengers these days….

There may be a requirement to take them off for the safety brief.

Actually on my last flight to Seville, the cabin crew did ask a man to remove his headphones whilst she was doing the safety talk - but he was sitting in an emergency exit seat. He didn’t take them off, so she asked him again. After the talk so spoke to him quietly about how he needed to listen as he was in the particular seat. I was directly behind him wearing my headphones and she didn’t ask me.
Op, ear defenders are fine, and cabin crew don’t actually give the safety talk as you’re taking off. They’re also strapped in their seats!

Ear defenders fine especially on a child as you would be expected to help him in an emergency. Crocheting no! I took my crochet on a flight and was told I had to stop crocheting for take off and landing.
Apparently picking your nose whilst watching a ridiculously large tablet is fine though and the man next to me carried on!!

The misconception about eardrums may have come from misunderstanding. Fully blocking your ear canal while descending fast could cause a busrt ear drum. This is why skydivers avoid or wear special ear plugs and don't jump with a blocked nose. (Many do still risk doing both of course)

Regular ear defenders won't be a risk at all.

Descending fast (for example in an emergency) can cause a burst ear drum full stop, no earphones needed

*Really?

I've been on plenty of flights where the stewards have told people to remove headphones to listen to the safety instructions. I've been asked to myself.*

But during take off and landing the cabin crew are in their seats, the safety instructions take place before take off