Love of the open road and the thrill of speed top the list of reasons why individuals love to ride motorcycles. However, if you’re an avid rider, you should know about a significant risk: research has linked this exhilarating hobby to irreversible hearing damage.
The impact of motorcycle speed and riding duration on hearing health was assessed in a comprehensive study performed by a hearing protection maker in collaboration with a prominent German automobile association. The results were alarming: bikers can suffer permanent hearing damage after just 15 minutes of riding without hearing protection at a speed of 62 mph.
What causes hearing loss in bikers?
You may not be surprised that bikers often suffer from hearing loss, but you might be surprised as to why. The greatest threat isn’t the raging engine, contrary to the common belief, it’s really the wind. While helmets offer considerable protection from injury during crashes, the research highlights that they fall short in safeguarding the rider’s hearing. The wind noise beating around the rider’s head isn’t decreased much even when a helmet has extra padding, vents, or other modifications.
Motorcyclists are often affected by a condition known as temporary threshold shift (TTS), which results from regular exposure to extreme noise levels. TTS is a progressive condition, which means the more you’re exposed to loud noises, the more intense the symptoms can get. Individuals who are coping with TTS may start to detect that their hearing is less clear or other minor symptoms. However, over time, this condition can progress to permanent and irreversible hearing loss.
How do other noises compare to wind volume?
The German study sheds a lot of light on just how extreme wind noise can get while riding. At 62 mph, the wind around a biker’s head produces noise levels reaching 95 decibels (dB). Workers in Europe, for instance, have to utilize ear protection by law if the volume goes beyond 80 dB. This means that bikers traveling at this speed without hearing protection are exposed to noise levels nearly 19% higher than what is deemed safe in a work environment.
As the speed goes up, so does the volume level. At 74 mph, wind volume can reach 98 dB, a level that can cause hearing damage after only 7 minutes of exposure. Many studies corroborate that bikers are indeed at significant risk of irreversible hearing loss.
How to protect your hearing
Fortunately, protecting your hearing while riding is both easy and effective: use earplugs. Most people are familiar with the old basic earplugs, but hearing specialists recommend the filtered versions instead. These sophisticated earplugs are manufactured to protect your eardrums from high-frequency noises like wind while still allowing lower frequency sounds to get in. This means you can hear crucial sounds like sirens, horns, and human speech, which are critical for a biker’s safety.
Moreover, these modern earplugs allow bikers to enjoy the exhilaration of riding without feeling cut off or numb, a common downside of older protective devices. With filtered earplugs, you can continue to enjoy the thrill of the ride while protecting your hearing from the harmful effects of wind noise.
It is possible to enjoy the excitement of speed and the freedom of the open road while still keeping your hearing safe from wind noise. Substantial and permanent hearing damage can be caused by the noise of wind at high speeds. However, with the basic addition of quality earplugs, bikers can continue to enjoy their rides while protecting their long-term hearing health.
Stay on top of your hearing health by contacting us to talk about hearing protection.
