A B737-700 captain reported the altitude alert warning was bleeding through into the pilots' headset...

Attributes
ACN	906719
Time
Date	201008
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	LAS.Airport
State Reference	NV
Environment
Flight Conditions	Mixed
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-700
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Indicating and Warning - Flight & Navigation Systems
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 25
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical

Narrative:

On our aircraft the altitude alerter came through the pilot's headset as well as the overhead speakers. (The alert does not come through the headset if the headset is not in noise reduction mode.) the alert is loud and blocks out any and all other communications; including ATC. We were being vectored around a lot of weather and ATC was extremely busy. We needed to have ATC repeat our clearance several times. She was working extremely hard and we increased the controllers' and our workload! This is a safety of flight issue.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B737-700 Captain reported the altitude alert warning was bleeding through into the pilots' headsets and was interrupting clearances that then had to be repeated.

Narrative: On our aircraft the altitude alerter came through the pilot's headset as well as the overhead speakers. (The alert does not come through the headset if the headset is not in noise reduction mode.) The alert is loud and blocks out any and all other communications; including ATC. We were being vectored around a lot of weather and ATC was extremely busy. We needed to have ATC repeat our clearance several times. She was working extremely hard and we increased the controllers' and our workload! This is a safety of flight issue.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.

A B737-700 captain reported the altitude alert warning was bleeding through into the pilots' headsets and was interrupting clearances that then had to be repeated.