Hearing Aids and Riding Care to Share your experience?

[p6x]

@PJPR01

It seems the Slimbuds are no longer commercialized. I can't find them anywhere.

[PJPR01]

Oh...what a pity...hopefully the Decibullz may provide a good solution for you...I have a couple of unopened new ones as well at home (blue and orange) in case I ever lose my current ones.  Having the tube going thru them with a cap on it really helps to avoid that odd feeling of muffledness.

[PJPR01]

2 hours ago, p6x said:

@PJPR01

It seems the Slimbuds are no longer commercialized. I can't find them anywhere.

I have one extra brand new never used set of Slimbuds if you ever want to try them.

[Art]

The cops around here chase people in traffic on fully loaded Harleys, with guns. They wear half helmets and short sleeve shirts.

Bicycle racers shave their legs so they heal quicker.

Nice to have a choice.

[guzzler]

I can't stand wearing ear plugs....

They just aren't comfortable for me and bugger up my balance.Maybe I'd get used to it but not willing to persist with them.

I too love the sounds of the bike and the road undiluted by either earplugs or music!

Been riding since I was 17 and I've done some big rides in my time and thankfully I still have my hearing and no tinnitus touch wood. Don't know what's going with me but I'll carry on as I've been doing so far....

Cheers

Ps It's 8 degrees here so I won't be going out in a tee shirt and shorts.. but maybe I'll wear my Bavarian wooly alpine hat backwards when we go shopping....? Ha ha bound to wind the wife up.

[docc]

I think my comment about riding in shorts was rather wooly, itself.

FWIW, the tube, or channel, built into quality earplugs and hearing aids has everything to do with providing equalized pressure across the eardrum lest balance, equilibrium, or disorientation issues arise . . .

[guzzler]

Ha ha...Maybe I could pull the wool over my ears....?

I do realise that if you bought decent ones they'd fit better and perform better but just not my cup o Darjeeling I'm afraid.

Ole mate Dave won't ride without them either and shakes his head at me too!

Each to our own I guess eh.

Cheers

 

[Art]

Just thinkin

What if that phone under the seat had a stereo mike turned on, and transmitting to wireless buds?

Would this replace a $1000 set of pipes while keeping out wind noise?

[audiomick]

Don't know about hearing aids, but as far as hearing protection goes: I've got some from this company

https://www.hearsafe.de/

Moulded inserts that accept either a noise filter or a driver designed for in-ear monitoring for musicians on stage. The in-ear bit doesn't fit under the helmet, but the filters do.

The filters I have provide 15 dB reduction in noise level, and the reduction is nearly neutral across the frequency range.

The biggest advantage of the moulded inserts is, you can wear them for more than six hours at a time (multiple experiences thereof...) without any discomfort at all. The problem is more likely that you will forget you've got them in.

The disadvantage is that they are expensive. On the other hand, you only buy them once in about 15 years. Apparently one should have them re-done after around that sort of time period as the ear canal changes a bit with time. Mine are at least that old, and still work fine.

 

My advice is, look for something along those lines from a supplier in your country. It is a bit of dicking around to get it organised, but the result is way above any "universal" product on the market.

[PJPR01]

51 minutes ago, Art said:

Just thinkin

What if that phone under the seat had a stereo mike turned on, and transmitting to wireless buds?

Would this replace a $1000 set of pipes while keeping out wind noise?

This is what the Slimbuds do…Bluetooth connection to the earbuds.

[guzzler]

Actually after reading this post it would appear that I'm definitely in the minority when it comes to ear plugs and not wearing them!

Anyone else not using them...?

Cheers Guzzler

[LowRyter]

head to toe AGAT starting with earplugs down to my boots.

[p6x]

A lot of answers indicate we all have looked for solutions that match our requirements.

Ear protection is important and recommended in multiple industries.

For those who are not really convinced, take a check and find out how much of the low frequencies you already lost.

There are some tests on YouTube. To make it interesting, do the test seating with a younger guy and find out what you can't hear that he can....

The new technologies are getting smart in filtering out the specific frequencies and the high volumes while letting those needed to pass-thru.

I wish I had started to protect my hearing earlier, but I did not.

[Tomchri]

Had a test a few months ago, yes there was some smiling at the other side of the glass. Surprised it’s not worse after all the years with drilling and biking. Still not wearing protection  .  And probably never listened to much to my mother either.

Cheers Tom.

[audiomick]

On 7/8/2023 at 12:53 PM, p6x said:

... find out how much of the low frequencies you already lost.

The high frequencies go west first.

The nominal normal hearing range is from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. I can clearly remember being able to hear the whine from the bit in a vacuum tube TV that times the electron beam for each horizontal stripe (German word is "Zeilentrafo". I'm not sure that I ever knew the English term...). The last time I remember hearing that is probably more than 15 years ago. That is at 15.8 kHz.

I'm 59 years old now, and I can't hear all that much over about 12 kHz, which is normal for my age. I know for certain that I have a significant dip in my left ear close to 10 kHz, but fairly narrow. Tinnitus is also an issue. Surprisingly enough, I can still do good work as a sound engineer.

Whether the loss of the high frequencies is simply an aging problem, or a function of the ever increasing environmental noise in our industrialised society is a matter of contention. Undisputed is the fact that long term and repeated exposure to high noise levels damages your hearing.

A very common problem amongst older people is not being able follow conversations in noisy crowded rooms very easily. The brain needs the signals from both ears to filter out the garbage, and if the ears don't work equally well, it starts to have problems. There is a long article here explaing how it works, if anyone is interested:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocktail_party_effect

I wear earplugs, and have done since my mid-twenties. I wish I had started a bit earlier. I can only recommend everyone to do so in high-noise environments.

PS: regarding this:

On 7/8/2023 at 12:53 PM, p6x said:

The new technologies are getting smart in filtering out the specific frequencies and the high volumes while letting those needed to pass-thru.

It doesn't need much clever technology to let the important stuff through, although that is a desirable function. The filters I have for the moulded plugs I mentioned further up provide 15 dB damping, and have a very neutral frequency response. That is enough. It suffices to reduce the level to a point where your ears can deal with it a lot better, and you can hear what is going on around you quite well without damaging your hearing.