Love of the open road and the thrill of speed top the list of reasons why people love riding motorcycles. But this exciting hobby comes at a high risk of permanent hearing damage for individuals who ride a lot.
An in depth study conducted by a notable German automobile association in partnership with a manufacturer of hearing protection solutions evaluated the effect of riding time and motorcycle speed on hearing health. Alarmingly, at speeds of 62 or higher, for just 15 minutes, riders who don’t use hearing protection can suffer irreversible hearing damage.
What causes hearing loss in motorcyclists?
While the concept of hearing loss may not come as a complete surprise, the main culprit could. The biggest threat isn’t the raging engine, contrary to the common belief, it’s really the wind. Although helmets offer significant protection from injury during crashes, the research stresses that they fall short in safeguarding the rider’s hearing. The wind noise whipping around the rider’s head isn’t reduced much even when a helmet has extra padding, vents, or other improvements.
Bikers are often affected by a condition called temporary threshold shift (TTS), which results from frequent exposure to extreme noise levels. The more often you’re exposed to loud noise, the more intense your TTS symptoms will become with this progressive condition. At first, TTS sufferers may detect minor symptoms like a temporary reduction in hearing clarity. But permanent hearing loss can, over time, be the result.
Comparing wind noise with other noise levels
The German study sheds a lot of light on just how extreme wind noise can get while riding. The wind noise around a rider’s head can reach 95 (dB) at 62 mph. Workers in Europe, for example, have to use ear protection by law if the volume exceeds 80 dB. Bikers are enduring noise levels up to 19% higher than safe working environments when traveling at this speed.
And the volume level only increases as the speed goes up. Hearing damage can take place after just 7 minutes of riding at 74 mph which produces wind volumes of 98 dB. Many studies confirm that bikers are indeed at substantial risk of irreversible hearing loss.
How to safeguard your hearing
Luckily, it’s simple to protect your hearing with earplugs. Hearing specialists strongly recommend utilizing filtered earplugs, which are far superior to the old, uncomfortable versions most people are familiar with. Filtered earplugs are a more advanced model that filters out high frequencies like wind while allowing lower frequencies to get through. It’s crucial for bikers to still be able to hear vital sounds like human voices, emergency warning sounds, and car horns.
Moreover, these modern earplugs let bikers enjoy the exhilaration of riding without feeling isolated or numb, a common downside of older protective devices. You can safeguard your ears from harmful wind noise while still enjoying the thrill of the ride by using filtered earplugs.
It is possible to enjoy the thrill of speed and the freedom of the open road while still keeping your ears safe from wind noise. The wind noise produced at high speeds can cause considerable and permanent hearing damage in a very short time. But bikers can safeguard their long-term hearing while still enjoying the ride by simply making use of a pair of quality earplugs.
Stay on top of your hearing health by calling us to discuss hearing protection.