Tinnitus here, too. I put in earplugs before I put on my helmet for a ride. It's too late to put them in after the big truck blows by me or the train with the screeching wheels goes by. The earplugs don't really effect the number of sounds I can hear, from my bike and the surrounding enviorment, they just take the edge off the loud ones. Sometimes they save me from being startled by them. I think my riding is more stable and safer for that.

{repeat of my post in the Commuting section}

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

When walking and listening to my iPod in the winter, wearing hats would drastically cut down on wind noise, which allowed me to drive the earphones at lower volumes, preserving hearing. Now I've started riding again, it took only a week before realizing I was much safer with earphones than riding with naked ears.

Maybe it's just that I ride very slowly, but the idea that wind noise from cycling could pose any special hazard to one's hearing seems utterly ludicrous to me. Hey, what happens when you're just walking and the wind picks up to 20 mph or so? Would anyone think ear protection would be necessary in that case?

U ppl have elephant ears!

Maybe one of those flaps they put horses' eyes.

I love driving my convertible with the top down. Should I worry?

Not long ago, there was a discussion on the Mountain Bike Forum about how noisy freewheels are, and what to do about it. Sensitive ears, indeed.

Not if you are wearing a helmet.

I am a university music major, and just took a class last semester "Occupational Health in Music," whose professor was in the middle of doing a hearing loss study. I learned a LOT about hearing loss from that class.

First off, there are different kinds of ear plugs that effect your hearing differently. Many (like the foam ones) disproportionally filter out frequency levels - some things are harder to hear than others, but overall db level is reduced. I acquired some musician's earplugs that pretty evenly reduce all sound by 20-25 db.

Secondly, the amount of damage caused by noise varies a lot according to db level and TIME of exposure. Generally, anything above 80 db is considered "dangerous," since you only need a small amount of exposure time ( about 15 minutes, if I recall) to begin hearing damage. If you listened to 40 db for hours on end, this would probably cause hearing damage. The higher you go past 80 db, the exposure-time-until-damage gets increasingly smaller and smaller.

I highly doubt that riding with 20-25mph wind causes such high db levels. If this were so, if you rode for an hour or more, you would probably get temporary tinnitus. Also as already mentioned, head position and traffic patterns effect this. I doubt any sort of db level, be it high or low, is consistent.

Oh, tinnitus? That's the sound of your ear cells dying. They're these little hair-type things. Also, that pitch your tinnitus is ringing at? You'll never hear that exact pitch again.

This class has made me very aware of db levels and the risk of damage even in places you wouldn't normally associate with high db. For example, waitresses are at risk since they are in fairly noisy environments for hours at a time, every day.

I wouldn't completely rule out the possibility of hearing loss from wind in your ears, but when I ride things are pretty silent. I can even hear the slight whipping of my tires on the ground, when no cars are nearby.

partially deaf already at 27 in my left ear. To many years of loud music with my band, and concerts. Now i wear ear plugs at shows..very bad things i did when i was a bit younger.

Save your breath, TalkingHead. The kids won't listen a bit better than you, at that age.

You can you know and I do. What's needed to defeat wind noise is a small length of pipe-cleaner wrapped around the section which is just below the mic i.e. where the clear plastic tubing ends and the solid plastic section begins. This acts similar to an outdoor events microphone with a hairy cover in that it provides a wind buffer. Works fine and allows you to hear your riding companions slagging you off.

WHAT????

Um... on rye, with provolone... thanks!



One of the guys I used to work with had enough hearing damage that he'd cock his head to hear what I was saying. Sometimes, he'd play along like he didn't quite hear whatever was said, so he'd just go, "Oh, um...", then check his watch and give the time.

Someone mentioned that in high noise situations you hear better with "ear protection", that is, wax, cotton, or other ear plugs in. This is true, and while serving as a flight surgeon in the Air Force we were instructed that when flying in really noisy aircraft (such as the C130 before they redid the props) to wear our ear plugs. I found that indeed, with the plugs in I could hear the fellow next to me shouting, better than when he was shouting and I had no ear plugs in.

I wear my Sonic Ions while riding and do not have any trouble with either wind noise or falling off. That said, it still depends on somethings. I, for instance, have the open fit domes which fit into my ear firmly and don't migrate out. That may or may not be the case for you. My top speed is a little more sedate than yours ranging from 10 to 20 mph. Wearing them during activities is a case by case thing because the parameters are different for every one.

I went deaf in my left ear in May. The ENT said it may have been a virus. I have a Phonak, but it doesn't help with my problem. All sound is distorted. The hearing hasn't helped with my speed.

Since this thread has come to life again, I'll pass along an observation. Wind noise with helmet is very bad; without helmet at the same speed it's quite comfortable. I'm suspecting turbulance over the strap in front of the ear. If that's it, it sounds like a minor design change could fix most of the noise problem.

That's called temporary threshhold shift.

I'm responding to a 5 year old thread. I didn't notice the date.
I'm doing it again right now!

Is that supposed to be a problem, Paul?

FWIW there have been strap mounted spoilers sold to redirect airflow around your ears ..

people have attempted to resolve these situations..

If all I had to deal with is traffic noise while riding a bike . My Hearing would be better.

It's the Jobs I had to take to pay for my Bikes , eating and living indoors that damaged them..

Oh good! I'm glad I'm not responding to a blank. Thanks Nermal;