Software Says Calibration Is Due and Won't Let You Test

What's happening

The Benson software can be configured to block audiogram testing outright if it doesn't have a valid record that the audiometer's annual calibration is current — the setting is usually labeled something like "prohibit audiogram without annual calibration." This exists for a real reason: annual calibration is a genuine requirement for an occupational hearing testing program, not a formality, and testing on an instrument that's actually out of calibration undermines the results. But the software's calibration record and the actual, physical calibration state of your instrument are two different things, and they can get out of sync. This guide is about telling those two situations apart — a real overdue calibration versus the software just being confused — and what to do about each.

Try these in order

1. First, confirm whether your annual calibration is actually current. Check the calibration due-date sticker on the booth or on the audiometer's connector bracket, or ask us directly if you're not sure. If calibration really is due, testing needs to wait until it's done — schedule it. Don't work around the lockout to keep testing on an instrument that's actually overdue.
2. If calibration was performed recently and the software is still showing it as not done, restart the program (or the computer) and try again. A stale "annual calibration not done" state has cleared for other customers just from a restart.
3. If it's still blocking after a restart and you're confident calibration is current, run a new daily calibration. When the software prompts that the daily calibration failed because of the annual calibration and offers to review the audiogram in detail, walk through that dialog and check the box labeled Reference before saving. That tells the software to treat this calibration as its new baseline.
4. If your calibration history was accidentally deleted — for example, someone hit a "delete all" option while trying to remove one bad entry, and the list is now empty — the same recovery applies: run a new daily calibration, review it when prompted, check Reference, and save. This restores a working baseline going forward. It does not recover the missing history itself, so back up your data regularly so this is less disruptive if it happens again.
5. If none of the above applies and you genuinely need to change the lockout setting itself, that's a configuration change, not a routine step — see below.

Step 5 — Changing the setting itself

The lockout is controlled from Audiometer > Audiogram Configuration, on the test configuration you use day to day. You'd open Modify on that configuration (or Duplicate first if Modify isn't available, so you don't lose your existing setup), and there's a checkbox in that dialog for the annual-calibration lockout.

Two things to know before you touch this:

• Changing this configuration requires the Plus Package hardware key (the physical dongle) to be attached to the PC. Without it, the software won't let you save configuration changes at all.
• This setting is a warning system, not the calibration itself. Unchecking it only stops the software from telling you calibration is due — it does not make the instrument calibrated, and it does not satisfy your actual annual calibration requirement. If calibration is truly overdue, the correct fix is to schedule it, not to turn off the check and keep testing. Only touch this setting once you've already confirmed, per step 1, that the lockout is a software state problem and not a real overdue calibration.

When to call us

Contact Foster Instruments if:

• You're not sure whether your calibration is actually current — check with us before deciding to test, or before changing any setting.
• The lockout persists after a restart and you've confirmed calibration was recently and genuinely performed.
• Your calibration history was deleted and you want confirmation that the recovery steps above are right for your situation.
• You don't have the hardware key needed to change the configuration, or you're unsure whether the lockout is a false alarm or a real due date.
• Calibration is actually due — call us to get scheduled, rather than working around the lockout.