Raiyn

It's pointless to argue with them. Heck even I've given up. I disagree with using anything that impedes my hearing of traffic (ie headphones earplugs et al) On the flip side, Sony makes a nice little bar-mout radio / computer combo that I think would kick tail but people are stuck on sticking things in their bloody ears. <shrug>

John C. Ratliff

People misunderstand a lot about hearing protection. It cuts out much of the higher frequency noise, but much less of the lower frequency noise. You can still hear people talk, hear a cough, hear cars coming. But your ears will hear it within a range that is not damaging to them.

If, on the other hand, people continue to subject their ears to high levels of noise (and music is just noise to the hair cells in the inner ear), you will loose hearing ability. This will affect how much you hear later, when this loss becomes permanent. For you thirty-somethings, this may not seem important now. But for some of us (I just turned 59) it is very important. To have it at our age, you must save it at your age.

I have used 38 caliber pistol bullets (in a helicopter in Vietnam), cigarette butts (unused, and moist), and my own fingers at times to protect my hearing. Hearing protection is available, and should be used.

Since I've been using my ear plugs for bicycle riding, my tinnitus is going down. This morning, it was almost unnoticable, which I did notice.

John

Jessica

John, you misunderstand, probably because I was not clear. the radio is *legal*, that means it is not so loud that it can be heard 25 ft away. The traffic drowns it out sometimes but since I can hear it much of the time, I am more patient with that.

Thank you for the opinion about the earplugs, I never thought about using the ones that are easy to hear voices around. I never realized that it might impact tinnitus (which I have, but very quiet so far).

Raiyn

Actually it's not.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cali Vehicle Code

Headsets and Earplugs. VC 27400

No person operating any vehicle, including a bicycle shall wear any headset covering, or any earplugs in, both ears. There are exceptions for persons operating authorized emergency vehicles, special construction or maintenance equipment and refuse collection equipment, and for any person wearing personal hearing protectors designed to attenuate injurious noise levels and which do not inhibit the wearers' ability to hear a siren or horn from an emergency vehicle or horn form another motor vehicle, and for any person using a prosthetic device which aids the hard of hearing.

https://www.bicyclesource.com/body/sa...nia-laws.shtml

Jessica

Raiyn,
I do not use earphones or plugs. My post says my radio plays *out loud*.

Raiyn

That's cool then. Thanks for the clarification.

vrkelley

My route changed to include an separate bike trail that runs along a 60MPH highway. The noise is incredible. So I'm considering this instead

John C. Ratliff

Jessica,

I understand what you are saying. But I maintain that this practice could still lead to hearing loss.

Here is the EPA Noise Site .

Note that they do not regulate the noise of radios. There are some standards, but they vary from place to place. These are about environmental noise, and what can bother people. What I'm talking about is noise levels high enough to damage hearing. This is generally accepted to be about 85 decibels on the "A" scale for 8 hours of exposure. While bicyclists don't bike for 8 hours, they are sometimes exposed to much higher levels than 85 decibels (where normal conversation is inhibited). You need to turn up the radio to drown out the noise of the cars, and this can also be injurious to you hearing. It can still be "legal" for causing a nuscence to others at a distance, but realize that the noise levels vary in accordance to the inverse square law. For instance, a noise level of 85 dB will be decline according to the distance. If it as 83 dB 3 feet from you, it will be 80 dB at 6 feet, 76 at 12 feet, etc. (3 dB decline represents a ten-fold magnitude decrease in the sound pressure level). Double the distance, and the square of that number represents the lessening of the sound pressure (decibels are based on logrythms, base 10). This is why I say that you could be damaging your hearing, and you could be doing that and still be "legal" according to the law.

Concerning the California code for bicyclists and ear plugs, read it carefully:

Realize that hearing protection falls under the portion of this code that pertains to wearing "personal hearing protection designed to attenuate injurious noise levels and which do not inhibit the wearers' ability to hear a siren or horn..." You can still hear these well, without the injurious noise, while wearing hearing protection ear plugs.

John

vrkelley

Agreed. Heck if I wait long enough, no noises will bother me at all...I'll be post-deaf. Sorry! NO Dice. Even motorcyclists wear some sort of hearing protection.

Raiyn

If anybody cares here's a link to that radio / bike computer.
Link

vrkelley

EDITED:
Here's another sorted article about bicycle hearing prote4ction. https://www.bikexprt.com/bicycle/hearing.htm

The helmet pictured in a previous post does not seem to block much if any noise at all (and is triple the weight). I'm reading from the motorcycle cites that [motor cycle] helmets can actually amplify and distort car noises. Wonder if this is true for the BMX style also?

The ear plugs AND the helmet was down right painful ... back to the drawing board.

vrkelley

Just an update on that BMX helmet. This morning it was 40F and I overslept. Left the house with a wet head and that helmet on and no cap. It was excellent, and my head stayed warm even with cars wizzing by. It's still noisey but not as bad.