Tinnitus and other hearing issues...

[vifferman]

I have had tinnitus, caused by long highway rides with no earplugs. The last one I can remember was riding from Christchurch to Roundabouta and my wife had thoughtfully packed away my wet weather gear and earplugs. I used cotton wool in my ears for some of the trip, but it don't help much. The tinnitus disappeared eventually.
I've used powertools a lot, although in my teens I helped hold things while my father was cutting up timber with a skillsaw - no earmuffs. My father-in-law was pretty deaf - worked for about 40 years as a carpenter and never wore any protection. Our neighbour's deaf too - he talks REALLY loudly and says "Eh?!?" a lot.
While I always wear earplugs on the open road now, my commute involves a section of less than 10 minutes each way on the motorway. Is this a problem? Usually the wind noise isn't too bad, unless there's a headwind.

One of my kids hassles me about being deaf - I'm not too bad, but have lost some hearing. I used to be able to hear the high-frequency whistle from CRT TVs, but can't any more. Part of that is the 2-miilion dBa whistle from our coffee machine when frothing milk - fark it's loud! SHould carry an OSH warning or summat.
My sons all listen to too loud music: one has his stereo in his car so loud you can hear him coming from a block or two away, yet he's the one who gets shitty when I miss something he's said! He's got two 1000W amps in it, and it's only a small 205GTi. The other two have always got headphones on, and if any of the three play games on the PS3, they crank the volume on the home theatre up to 60 or more, so they "can hear what's going on", usually when they're playing some combat game with lots of explosions and gunfire. (Apparently, you can't shoot accurately if the guns aren't realisticially loud...) Sounds good I guess, but it's annoying for us.

[<G>]

I spoke to a lady at the Matakana Markets - she does ear candling and what drew my attention is that it alleviates (not cures) tinnitus and vertigo - I have both. Had it done last Thursday and it seems to have lessened the pressure/pain I have on the left side of my face, I am going back this week for a repeat. Searches on the Interweb says that ear candling does not work and the residue in the candle is from the candle itself and not earwax. Well, be that as it may, I am going back. I will be investing in some ear plugs too.

[klingon]

Both my parents had major hearing loss related to their occupations - Dad from being in the army and Mum from being a hairdresser (have you ever been in a small room with 10 of those old hood-style hair driers running at once?!)

Their hearing loss had a major effect on their relationships with us kids. Dad found conversation so difficult that he would spend a lot of time on his own rather than make the effort to interact. Mum is very sociable but her frustration with not being able to hear makes her very, very grumpy. She's always shouting at people to speak up and stop mumbling!

I try to be very careful about my hearing, but I have to admit I've been a bit slack recently with the ear plugs while riding. Thanks for the timely reminder.

[MrMelon]

Can't beat canalphones. I find it hilarious that people pay over $200 for 'fitted plugs' when you can pay less than half that for canalphones that seal just as well if not better.

And you can have the music really really soft and still hear (most) of it with canalphones.

Canalphones have got to be the worst things for your hearing. If you want to be able to hear more than a few hi hats while using them to listen to music while riding, you'll have to have them reasonably cranked up, which defeats the purpose of using them to block wind noise to protect your hearing.

I dont use mine at all any more. They're a guaranteed way to set off ringing in my ears even with only 20 minutes quiet use now.

[AllanB]

Dam certain I've a fair bit of hearing loss - I blame motorcycling - even with religiously wearing ear plugs for the past couple of decades. Wind noise is a shit, and with fairings you then get wind buffering which can be more annoying.
I get a annual ear wax clean out with my nurse - this usually restores the finer sounds for a while.

I find pubs and the like very frustrating - I can converse with someone next to be but often on a seat or two away - all I hear is the background noise.

Will ACC pay for hearing loss due to motorcycling????

[vifferman]

Will ACC pay for hearing loss due to motorcycling????

I would doubt it, unless it's due to an accident / sudden event. Hearing loss due to prolonged / multiple exposure will almost certainly be excluded.

[AllanB]

I would doubt it, unless it's due to an accident / sudden event. Hearing loss due to prolonged / multiple exposure will almost certainly be excluded.

Hmm - so if my mufflers fell off on my way back from Nelson (440kms) I could claim a sudden loss of hearing?

[dpex]

Geez, man, the wind-noise is a part of the bliss. The Tinitus? Just don't listen to it. I don't. And on those occasions it becomes pervasive, I just go faster. The wind-noise cuts out the ear-whistles.

And there's no greater remover of tinitus consciousness than the sound of "woo, woo, woo," as the cop behind asks for your immediate attention.

[varminter]

Tinitus, thought he was the Greek bloke that discovered right angled triangles. I'm sitting here with white noise rushing through my head. I wear silicon putty earplugs at night as the wife snores at levels that are dangerous to life itself. Now apparently I need them for the bike too, what next

[Mikkel]

Apparently you can get rid of tinnitus through hypnosis. My uncle had that done about 20 years ago.

Quite simple - you just tell the brain to block out that particular sound and it shouldn't bother you again. After all, everything points to tinnitus as being a neurological response to hearing damage rather than a physical defect in the ear itself. An experiment was performed in the 60s where the hearing nerve was severed on a control group of people suffering badly from tinnitus. They became 100% deaf - yet the tinnitus persisted. Apparently the suicide rate for the control group was way outside the norm - but that could be a statistical error I assume... Not good.

[stevewederell]

I assumed ( I see foolishly now) that the standards that a helmet pass would also include noise! Now i find that this isn't right, who's in charge of this stuff?

Can I blame John Key, he may not be to blame, but I'd really like to.

Seriously, who IS in charge of this and why is it not part of the testing? It passes impact but not constant noise?! Does my head in...off to hunt for good deal on Sneaglwiessfluglepop ear plugs for my tunes

[longwayfromhome]

Just one other thing from my experience......before I got into serious riding in the US, my hearing was pretty normal...slightly damaged from concerts when young, but definitely no tinnitus. Now, 8 years of riding later (200k+ km) on a quiet bike but with the screen all the way down all the time, I have pretty constant tinnitus. This in spite of wearing good quality foam plugs 100% of that time (Howard Leights - the orange and now green 30db reduction). I did also do a lot of air travel over the last 15 years (averaged probably 6 hours every week), of which I had little hearing protection until the last 3-4 years.

The problem (I think) is that the LT has a pretty good sound system and I rode most of the 200k, with plugs in, but listening to music. So, I guess whatever rationale I had for listening to music, it hasn't worked. Sitting here tonight, I have had 3 weeks without bike/music/airtravel and I have been getting the strong hiss non-stop for the past 3 weeks (age= 54)

So my recommendation is that plugs + music are a bad combo.

PS: I would hate to ride without plugs now though...on the few occasions I have, I have definitely felt "off" to varying degrees.

[Mikkel]

Seriously, who IS in charge of this

YOU are. Really sucks when you're responsible for your own life eh?

[stevewederell]

YOU are. Really sucks when you're responsible for your own life eh?

LOL - Fair call Mikkel. AT least now I know long open road riding will cause hearing probs.

Guess I"ll get some plugs - though some say it bad, I'll get some canalphones - bugger someone said they're bad, um earbuds then - arse they're no good either, ok eureka...I'll drill two holes through side of my helmet and stick my fingers in them, can't make my riding any less skillful!

Guess I'll find something and just hope for the best

[Mikkel]

LOL - Fair call Mikkel. AT least now I know long open road riding will cause hearing probs.

Guess I"ll get some plugs - though some say it bad, I'll get some canalphones - bugger someone said they're bad, um earbuds then - arse they're no good either, ok eureka...I'll drill two holes through side of my helmet and stick my fingers in them, can't make my riding any less skillful!

Guess I'll find something and just hope for the best

I'm sure you'll be fine mate. Some helmets are more noisy than others - e.g. my shoei seems rather prone to windnoise, but the whisperkit did help in that regard.

You can get molded earplugs made here in Chch for $70. She'll even come to wherever you are and mold them - takes about 10 mins. I'm quite happy with mine.