Just a note to anyone interested; high end hearing loss is normal as you age. In this case his father attributes hearing loss to hi-speed dental drills, but this same type of hearing loss is normal for anyone over 45-50.

There is a cell phone ring tone available for teens to download that is designed so that parents and teachers cannot hear it, but teens can. Unfortunately for my daughter, I can still hear it though I'm 48.

There is a certain amount of age-related high-frequency hearing loss, I think it's even got a technical medical name. A few companies have tried to capitalize on this making ringtones for cellphones at sufficiently high frequency that only people under ~30 should be able to hear it. The funny part is when students get in trouble when teachers who are in the small percent of the population that doesn't have this hear the phone ringing.

as per wind-noise. I figure a well sealed car's got to offer 20-30 decibels or so of attenuation, so most earplugs (just not the maximum strength ones) shouldn't be any worse than riding in a cage. they help for ignoring those silly cagers who wish to honk and yell at you too.

90 dB has an allowable exposure of just over 2 hours a day, assuming you don't work in a noisy environment, which is fine for 90% of commutes. The other thing to realise is that 25mph is pretty much unsustainable for most commutes, and even then, turning your head slightly to the side every minute or two (checking traffic or just looking at the...flowers) will reduce the noise to well below 90dB. I'd say that the worries associated with wind noise causing hearing loss are probably better expended on drivers being knobs or roads being crap. But hey, each to their own.

Ok, so riding with a sound meter zip tied to my messenger bag a-la radio style on my way home yielded an average dBA of 96.2, low of 58, high of 112.

The ringing in my ears is so loud, I cant even hear my tinnitis.

On a serious note, I wish there was a surgery to correct tinnitis like there is for vision correction. In the military, I have access to free medical care, but the doctors keep telling me there is nothing I can do about it.

I used the kind that are bound together...they stay wrapped around the back of the helmet. I hold a plug in each hand while putting on the helmet and in the ears they go. Presto!

They tend to vibrate loose but they're better than nothing...Package says 25DB block. I'd venture to say they block more like 15.

Would love another easy no-fuss solution that works better and not too geeky.

There is some kinda experimental magnesium injection.
Otherwise I take 200% mag a day and it helps numb it a lot.

It would seem that helmets should have a muff built in to protect hearing.

Well, I hope Phonak have discount if you get them with the jersey.

No, you get steroids for your ear drums.

Floyd uses testosterone for his tinnitus.

When asked about it his reply was "What?" :)

Damn Slvoid,
Way to get some definitive numbers. Thanks. Guess I should keep my wonderings about body temp fluctuations during a ride to myself, huh?

Thanks again,

--A

It is called presbycusis, and it always seems to be the higher frequencies that people loose the ability to hear first. The thing I learned from working with the elderly is to lower the tone of your voice, and not increase the volume, in most cases this works, in others you just have to yell. I think in many cases it is more common for one ear to lose hearing faster than the other ear, I forget whether it is the right or left one that usually goes first.

Mind you my readings were in NYC.. your mileage may vary out in the country side. I'm gonna have to do a ride up an empty road to test that one.

I lost the ear buds to my iPod and went ahead and bought a pair of Slipstreamz at the same time. They do the trick quite well, too hot for summer/hell season use but this fall and winter, I'm leaving them attached to my helmet. They are a bit quirky to get adjusted, but seem to work as advertised.

--A

What a great product!! These neatly solve the common issue of safety about having earbuds IN the
ear that often is asked about here. These things put a speaker NEAR the ear which is neat as hell
to me.

Can you speak into my good ear please?

Slvoid is right. NYC will yield a higher reading. I had trouble finding a place in the City that I could carry on a cell phone conversation without asking the other person to speak louder. I rarely have that problem here.

The slipstreamz also work well without the ear phones in place. I think I'm going to really like these things.

--A

I've never found the noise levels too loud when I ride my bicycle. But have noticed the high levels of noise when I ride my motorcyle. Did some research, and found some custom ear plugs (db-blockers) that bring down all noise levels about 30db. This would allow you to hear traffic and voices etc, while keeping the ambient noise at a less damaging level.

If I hadn't already destroyed my hearing it might be an issue. But 10 years of playing punk rock probably had a bigger impact than any bike noise I could create.

The biggest issue for me is when I'm riding with someone. My helmet (Furio) creates so much wind noise, it's hard to hear the other rider talking. I find when I turn my head towards them, the noise decreases and I can hear fine.

Sounds like a lot of battery replacing...I'm wondering the slipstreamz can just block the noise without playing any music-white noise.

No batteries in them, the only batteries would be in a MP3 player. They are covers that hold the ear buds from a player. They seem to do fair job at blocking some of the wind noise, not as well as foam rubber ear plugs do, but o.k. performance. I did have one start to vibrate and buzz but that was only on a large decent where I was hitting 35+mph.

--A

Interesting discussion. I have been wondering about this, as it is commonly believed among motorcyclists that the act of riding a motorcycle, even with a full coverage helmet, eventually causes hearing loss due to the constant wind noise. When I rode my duc daily I started wearing earplugs, and found that my concentration levels improved; suggesting to me that my brain was tiring itself somewhat dulling all that wind noise. (or maybe it was the sweet sound of the intake honk and open airbox, but I digress...)

On days where I car/bike commute I have occasionally forgotten my helmet. I notice that wearing a helmet (at least, MY helmets a Bell and a Trek) increases apparent wind noise. I do believe there is enough constant wind noise to put me close to postential damage as I ride nearing 2 hours a day.

I just haven't tried HearO's yet, but I will. I'll post again after a few trial runs.