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 connected this thrilling hobby to permanent hearing damage.
An extensive study done by a prominent German automobile association in collaboration with a maker of hearing protection solutions examined the effect of riding duration and motorcycle speed on hearing health. The findings were startling: bikers can suffer permanent hearing damage after only 15 minutes of riding without hearing protection at a speed of 62 mph.
What causes hearing loss in bikers?
While the notion of hearing loss might not be surprising, the leading culprit could. In spite of what many believe, it isn’t the motorcycle’s roaring engine but instead, the wind that poses the biggest hazard. The research highlighted that although helmets offer critical protection during accidents, they fall short in safeguarding a biker’s hearing. The wind noise beating around the rider’s head isn’t reduced very 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 decrease in hearing clarity. However, over time, this condition can progress to permanent and irreversible hearing loss.
Comparing wind volume with other noise levels
The German study sheds a lot of light on just how severe wind noise can be while riding. At 62 mph, the wind around a biker’s head generates noise levels reaching 95 decibels (dB). For context, European Union (EU) law mandates that workers need to safeguard their ears if exposed to volume levels higher than 80 dB. This means that bikers traveling at this speed without hearing protection are exposed to noise levels nearly 19% higher than what is considered safe in a work environment.
As the speed goes up, so does the noise level. Hearing damage can happen after only 7 minutes of riding at 74 mph which produces wind volumes of 98 dB. Many studies corroborate that bikers are indeed at significant risk of irreversible hearing loss.
How to safeguard your hearing
The good news is, it’s easy to safeguard your hearing with earplugs. Most people are familiar with the old basic earplugs, but hearing specialists recommend the filtered versions instead. These advanced earplugs are designed to protect your eardrums from high-frequency noises like wind while still allowing lower frequency sounds to penetrate. It’s crucial for bikers to still be able to hear vital sounds like human voices, emergency warning sounds, and car horns.
Furthermore, these modern earplugs let bikers enjoy the sensations of riding without feeling isolated or numb, a common disadvantage of older protective devices. With filtered earplugs, you can continue to experience the thrill of the ride while safeguarding your hearing from the damaging effects of wind noise.
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. Substantial and irreversible 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 safeguarding their long-term hearing health.
Stay on top of your hearing health by calling us to talk about hearing protection.
