Originally Posted by
milkbaby
I think this is a huge factor for me. I hear wind on the bike with or without a helmet, so it's not flapping helmet straps curating noise for me. I can hear when the wind dies down or switches direction when it's swirly, so I think it's just down to ear shape in my personal case.
The interesting thing is that I wore a heart rate monitor yesterday, and louder wind noise tended to correlate with higher heart rate. I think it must mean headwinds and crosswinds were both loudest and slowing me down the most.
I have fairly small ears with tiny ear canals. I can't wear most earbuds to listen to music, they just don't fit ... I have to find extra small ones, probably built for children. So that might be why I've never experienced annoying wind noise.
I do, however, hear my pulse in my ears when I exert myself ... the higher my heart rate, the louder it gets.