Sbn controller reports of an audio jack that is out of service. Maintenance works on the jack and wh...

Narrative:

I was working the south high sector (at the R4 scope) which takes midway traffic on two arrivals; sequences; descends and hands off to chicago approach. The radar scope next to mine (R3) was out of service due to a headphone jack not working. One of our technicians was working on the jack. She went into the back room to test something. Without warning; a deafening squelch/tone was heard not only throughout the TRACON over one of the speakers; but also on the frequency I was using and directly into my ear through my headset. I immediately removed my ear piece and put the frequency on speaker. The technician came back into the TRACON and I informed her of what had just happened. Her response was; 'oh; I didn't know you had that keyed up.' I left the traffic on speaker until the maintenance was completed in case it happened again. After it was completed; I put my ear piece in the other ear because there was still a ringing sound on one side. I recommend tech[nicians] ask which frequencies are keyed up and being used before sending loud; ear damaging squelches and tones through them. It is damaging to hearing and disruptive to the controller working traffic.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: SBN Controller reports of an audio jack that is out of service. Maintenance works on the jack and while doing so a loud squeal emits from the frequency into the Controller's ear.

Narrative: I was working the South High sector (at the R4 scope) which takes Midway traffic on two arrivals; sequences; descends and hands off to Chicago Approach. The radar scope next to mine (R3) was out of service due to a headphone jack not working. One of our technicians was working on the jack. She went into the back room to test something. Without warning; a deafening squelch/tone was heard not only throughout the TRACON over one of the speakers; but also on the frequency I was using and directly into my ear through my headset. I immediately removed my ear piece and put the frequency on speaker. The technician came back into the TRACON and I informed her of what had just happened. Her response was; 'Oh; I didn't know you had that keyed up.' I left the traffic on speaker until the maintenance was completed in case it happened again. After it was completed; I put my ear piece in the other ear because there was still a ringing sound on one side. I recommend tech[nicians] ask which frequencies are keyed up and being used before sending loud; ear damaging squelches and tones through them. It is damaging to hearing and disruptive to the controller working traffic.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1196817
Time
Date	201408
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	SBN.TRACON
State Reference	IN
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Any Unknown or Unlisted Aircraft Manufacturer
Person 1
Function	Other / Unknown
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Experience	Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 2.5
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Sbn controller reports of an audio jack that is out of service. Maintenance works on the jack and while doing so a loud squeal emits from the frequency into the controller's ear.