Ear, nose, throat, and equilibrium

This regulation sets the ear, nose, throat, and equilibrium standards for first-class medical certificates (required for airline transport pilots).

Hearing: You must demonstrate acceptable hearing through one of three methods: understanding conversational voice at 6 feet with your back turned, achieving at least 70% on speech discrimination testing, or meeting specific pure tone audiometric thresholds at various frequencies.

ENT conditions: You cannot have any disease or condition of the middle/inner ear, nose, mouth, throat, or voice box that interferes with flying, could be aggravated by flying, or impairs clear speech communication.

Equilibrium: You cannot have any condition that causes or may cause vertigo or balance disturbances.

These standards ensure pilots can communicate effectively with ATC and crew, hear critical audio warnings and radio calls, and maintain spatial orientation without being incapacitated by dizziness or balance problems during flight operations.

*This is a plain-English summary for study only. The official 14 CFR text on this page is controlling — always read the current regulation and consult a CFI.*