Helmet noise & ear protection
Poll: Helmet noise & ear protection
Total Members Polled: 209
Discussion
anonymous said:
[redacted]
Sorry I can't agree with this. Its a simple logic problemevery motorcyclist has been on the motorway for more than fifteen minutes, some every day
less than half, probably a lot less wear any more ear protection than a helmet.
I've never seen a case of deafness from motorcycling.
I'm not saying ambient noise isn't damaging to your ear, but it would have to be much louder and/or more prolonged
julian64 said:
Yeah but then I believe the risk to my masculinity is too high to be using face creams to protect my boyish good looks as well.
BTW I have never seen someone with deafness of old age cause by a motorcycle. Strangely I have never seen it in an HGV driver either, and I would have thought the noise in the caab was at least as high as wind noise on a bike.
What I do know is that the majority of bikers die from either their inattention, or that of the people surrounding them. Losing one of your senses for comfort won't imporve those statistics.
On a more general note, although high ambient noise can damage your hearing, the relatively short time on a motorocycle is very unlikely to cause it. The inner ear has an amplification system which can effectively turn up or down the volume comming into the ear. You can demonstate this if you spend some time in a noisy room and then go into a quite one where someone is talking. This isn't damage to your ear, its the amplification system changing.
This is either a bit of trolling or you are very poorly informed. I will assume it’s the latter.BTW I have never seen someone with deafness of old age cause by a motorcycle. Strangely I have never seen it in an HGV driver either, and I would have thought the noise in the caab was at least as high as wind noise on a bike.
What I do know is that the majority of bikers die from either their inattention, or that of the people surrounding them. Losing one of your senses for comfort won't imporve those statistics.
On a more general note, although high ambient noise can damage your hearing, the relatively short time on a motorocycle is very unlikely to cause it. The inner ear has an amplification system which can effectively turn up or down the volume comming into the ear. You can demonstate this if you spend some time in a noisy room and then go into a quite one where someone is talking. This isn't damage to your ear, its the amplification system changing.
There are a large number of studies that have been undertaken ALL of which identified that wind noise from helmet is high enough, even with short term exposure, to risk serious long term hearing damage. ALL of those studies recommend the use of hearing protection.
Do a quick google and look at a few of them. Here’s two chosen at random:
http://www.hearingtestlabs.com/motorcycle.htm
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC539364...
Use of ear plugs does not stop you hearing all the ‘important’ noises while riding either quickly or slowly. It just reduces the volume of, in particular, the background wind noise. I would also suggest that on long fast runs they actually aid concentration as the brain is less likely to ‘shut out’ all noise in an attempt to ignore the high levels of wind noise.
I feel this will have to be my last post.
According to you lot greater than fifteen minutes on a bike and you have incremental nerve deafness.
That leave us with only one of three options
1) All bikers have always worn ear protection, which is why all bikers aren't totally deaf.
2) Bikers would be massively over represented in deafness at the local GP surgery or hospital ENT clinics. In fact no one else would get a look in at the local ENT clinics because of the quantity of bikers there.
3) The incremental damage is so very small compared with all the other possible causes. And that while one should always be ware of hearing and high noise or pressure exposure, this thread is mainly handwringing nonsense.
According to you lot greater than fifteen minutes on a bike and you have incremental nerve deafness.
That leave us with only one of three options
1) All bikers have always worn ear protection, which is why all bikers aren't totally deaf.
2) Bikers would be massively over represented in deafness at the local GP surgery or hospital ENT clinics. In fact no one else would get a look in at the local ENT clinics because of the quantity of bikers there.
3) The incremental damage is so very small compared with all the other possible causes. And that while one should always be ware of hearing and high noise or pressure exposure, this thread is mainly handwringing nonsense.
julian64 said:
I feel this will have to be my last post.
According to you lot greater than fifteen minutes on a bike and you have incremental nerve deafness.
That leave us with only one of three options
1) All bikers have always worn ear protection, which is why all bikers aren't totally deaf.
2) Bikers would be massively over represented in deafness at the local GP surgery or hospital ENT clinics. In fact no one else would get a look in at the local ENT clinics because of the quantity of bikers there.
3) The incremental damage is so very small compared with all the other possible causes. And that while one should always be ware of hearing and high noise or pressure exposure, this thread is mainly handwringing nonsense.
Mostly it's option 2. Google some of the research already done. According to you lot greater than fifteen minutes on a bike and you have incremental nerve deafness.
That leave us with only one of three options
1) All bikers have always worn ear protection, which is why all bikers aren't totally deaf.
2) Bikers would be massively over represented in deafness at the local GP surgery or hospital ENT clinics. In fact no one else would get a look in at the local ENT clinics because of the quantity of bikers there.
3) The incremental damage is so very small compared with all the other possible causes. And that while one should always be ware of hearing and high noise or pressure exposure, this thread is mainly handwringing nonsense.
julian64 said:
I feel this will have to be my last post.
According to you lot greater than fifteen minutes on a bike and you have incremental nerve deafness.
That leave us with only one of three options
1) All bikers have always worn ear protection, which is why all bikers aren't totally deaf.
2) Bikers would be massively over represented in deafness at the local GP surgery or hospital ENT clinics. In fact no one else would get a look in at the local ENT clinics because of the quantity of bikers there.
3) The incremental damage is so very small compared with all the other possible causes. And that while one should always be ware of hearing and high noise or pressure exposure, this thread is mainly handwringing nonsense.
Why are you so determined to ignore all the research available on this subject?According to you lot greater than fifteen minutes on a bike and you have incremental nerve deafness.
That leave us with only one of three options
1) All bikers have always worn ear protection, which is why all bikers aren't totally deaf.
2) Bikers would be massively over represented in deafness at the local GP surgery or hospital ENT clinics. In fact no one else would get a look in at the local ENT clinics because of the quantity of bikers there.
3) The incremental damage is so very small compared with all the other possible causes. And that while one should always be ware of hearing and high noise or pressure exposure, this thread is mainly handwringing nonsense.
Mr2Mike said:
julian64 said:
I feel this will have to be my last post.
According to you lot greater than fifteen minutes on a bike and you have incremental nerve deafness.
That leave us with only one of three options
1) All bikers have always worn ear protection, which is why all bikers aren't totally deaf.
2) Bikers would be massively over represented in deafness at the local GP surgery or hospital ENT clinics. In fact no one else would get a look in at the local ENT clinics because of the quantity of bikers there.
3) The incremental damage is so very small compared with all the other possible causes. And that while one should always be ware of hearing and high noise or pressure exposure, this thread is mainly handwringing nonsense.
Why are you so determined to ignore all the research available on this subject?According to you lot greater than fifteen minutes on a bike and you have incremental nerve deafness.
That leave us with only one of three options
1) All bikers have always worn ear protection, which is why all bikers aren't totally deaf.
2) Bikers would be massively over represented in deafness at the local GP surgery or hospital ENT clinics. In fact no one else would get a look in at the local ENT clinics because of the quantity of bikers there.
3) The incremental damage is so very small compared with all the other possible causes. And that while one should always be ware of hearing and high noise or pressure exposure, this thread is mainly handwringing nonsense.
Stop scaremongering :-)
I actually find it uncomfortable to ride a bike without ear plugs. They make hearing the important things so much easier and clearer. OK I probably have a noisy helmet, but the wind noise above 50mph or so completely dominates the ride. With cheapo £1.99 for 100 ear plugs in I can actually enjoy the ride.
The trouble is many people on hear and one in particular think about it as only hearing loss/deafness as being the statistic in question.
Tinnitus is your worst enemy not deafness as such and I'd happily swap some of the mentally draining effects of constant screeching in my head for some silence.
Tinnitus is your worst enemy not deafness as such and I'd happily swap some of the mentally draining effects of constant screeching in my head for some silence.
I got a set of custom plugs from ACS when having some headphones made a few years ago.
The site has been updated but I think they're these ones:
http://acscustom.com/uk/product/acs-pro-26/
I use them for on the bike and sleeping after a nightshift.
I went to the Ace yesterday and wore them. On the way home I didn't bother putting them in and the wind noise was bloody painful!
I'd definitely recommend them.
The site has been updated but I think they're these ones:
http://acscustom.com/uk/product/acs-pro-26/
I use them for on the bike and sleeping after a nightshift.
I went to the Ace yesterday and wore them. On the way home I didn't bother putting them in and the wind noise was bloody painful!
I'd definitely recommend them.
I just noticed this thread and thought I'd contribute.
I never used earplugs when I first passed my test. Then about 15 years ago I took my bike south for the summer as I was working away from home. I did a 500mile, 10 hour trip down to London and thought nothing of earplugs.
I didn't notice anything amiss for a few weeks , but then found that I couldn't hear people clearly. I was working in an open plan, relatively noisy environment with lots of people talking, there being a constant background babble. When people were talking directly to me I couldn't distinguish their voices from the babble and found myself constantly asking them to repeat themselves. It was bad enough for me to notice it and try to work out what was going on.
I made the decision to try earplugs whilst riding, and thankfully after a while my hearing improved again with the ability to separate noise returning.
I've worn earplugs on the bike ever since and my hearing is perfectly ok again.
I never used earplugs when I first passed my test. Then about 15 years ago I took my bike south for the summer as I was working away from home. I did a 500mile, 10 hour trip down to London and thought nothing of earplugs.
I didn't notice anything amiss for a few weeks , but then found that I couldn't hear people clearly. I was working in an open plan, relatively noisy environment with lots of people talking, there being a constant background babble. When people were talking directly to me I couldn't distinguish their voices from the babble and found myself constantly asking them to repeat themselves. It was bad enough for me to notice it and try to work out what was going on.
I made the decision to try earplugs whilst riding, and thankfully after a while my hearing improved again with the ability to separate noise returning.
I've worn earplugs on the bike ever since and my hearing is perfectly ok again.
I listened to loud music in my youth, was close to lots of things going 'bang' loudly in my 20's and have been riding bikes for >25 years. My hearing is fine in normal day to day activities but I cannot hear conversations when there is lots of background noise (like at parties) and have had tinnitus for years.
Wear earplugs folks.
SS7
Wear earplugs folks.
SS7
Thought I'd best get some ear plugs after reading some of this thread, I've never used them before.
I popped around to see my Mum today and decided to take the bike since the sun was out. Once I got them to sit in my ears correctly I set off. I didn't like it tbh just felt strange and had a strange ringing in my ears when I pulled up.
I think it will take some getting used to but I'm going to stick with it.
I popped around to see my Mum today and decided to take the bike since the sun was out. Once I got them to sit in my ears correctly I set off. I didn't like it tbh just felt strange and had a strange ringing in my ears when I pulled up.
I think it will take some getting used to but I'm going to stick with it.
I'm firmly in the ear plugs are good and will help to stop damaging your hearing camp. However, my dad has been subject to a lot of noise through driving steam engines and riding bikes for 30 odd years. His recent hearing test came back as normal so it can't have done that much damage which surprised me as steam engines are bloody noisy!
Nearly out of the yellow cylinder/foam plugs so I tried a couple others I've picked up over the years today
Laser Lite (Yellow/Pink) - couldn't get these into my ears, too soft! Just seem to mush up despite rolling them/pulling my ear up etc.
Moldex Spark plugs - softer than the foam ones but firm enough to actually get in my ear. Takes about half a minute to expand but very impressed, better at subduing the wind noise but I can still hear the engine. Although I might be tempted to take the baffle out...
Laser Lite (Yellow/Pink) - couldn't get these into my ears, too soft! Just seem to mush up despite rolling them/pulling my ear up etc.
Moldex Spark plugs - softer than the foam ones but firm enough to actually get in my ear. Takes about half a minute to expand but very impressed, better at subduing the wind noise but I can still hear the engine. Although I might be tempted to take the baffle out...
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