As the temperatures rise and the days are longer activities and outings change. These changes related to summer often mean BBQs, gatherings, Motorcycling and July 1 and 4th festivities with friends and family. And what also does occur is more noise; noise when riding, noisy music, noisy fireworks and even noisier traffic such as motorcycle riding.
Motorcycle Riding: Protect your hearing; the effort is worth it
Whether you wear a full-face helmet, a three-quarter or a shorty, earplugs are a must. Hearing damage is cumulative and permanent. It takes a little effort to find an earplug that will work for you, but it will be worth it. It’s much less cost and effort than hearing aids, I can assure you.
Wear Your Protection:
When your ears are exposed to constant wind noise, several things happen: the cilia inside your ears get tired (no, seriously) and collapse. Your brain gets tired from filtering out all that extraneous noise, and that causes unnecessary fatigue. The nerve connections between your ears and your brain can sustain damage.
All of that combined means hearing loss. If you’ve ever found your ears ringing after a stint on the highway, that means, without question, you are damaging your hearing. A 60mph wind will cause hearing damage within 15 minutes. You have 7 minutes at 75mph, and 3 minutes at 85mph with no hearing protection. Yes, if you’re not wearing earplugs you are definitely slowly going deaf.
Windshields and full-face helmets can damp the wind noise some, but they often just change the windflow without quieting the noise. Earplugs are a great low-cost way to protect your hearing. The frequency of wind is excellent at damaging humans’ hearing. Earplugs will filter out those frequencies but they absolutely do still allow you to hear sirens, horns, and other traffic warnings. If you find the earplugs you’ve used block too much sound, try different ones.
There are a bunch of different earplugs on the market, and they can be divided into two simple categories: disposable and reusable. Disposable earplugs are made of foam, and the general rule is, they work well three times: if you wear them all day three days in a row, or if you take them out and reinsert them three times in one day, they’re done, the foam wears out, and they don’t hold a good seal anymore. They must be inserted in a specific way into your ear, and you can see that process on the CDC website here.
Hearing Protection – Earplug Options
There are also Reusable or custom hearing protection which is a little more expensive, but they will last you about 5 years and the fit your ear exactly. Custom Protect Ear’s dB Life All Sport Earpiece and Headset is the rider who wants to listen to their digital music player or radio, All Sport™ is the ideal way to take your tunes on the road. All Sport™ is a headset that connects to your digital music player and is specially designed to work in the harsh environment bikers endure. Wind noise, bike rumble, and traffic sound compound to make listening to radio or music a challenge while riding. Learn More about the All Sport.
Whatever option you choose – it is imperative you choose at least one. If you are unsure then we recommend you ask your friends what earplugs they use, and if you can try a pair of theirs: that’s the easiest, cheapest way to go about finding a good, comfortable pair of earplugs. If you want a longer term solution then check out Custom Protect Ears website to find a hearing solution for you and your lifestyle need.
Good luck everybody, and happy hearing!
SOURCE
https://www.rideapart.com/articles/355870/ear-plugs-protect-your-hearing/