Tinnitus...who has it and thinks it might be riding related?

While we are on the subject....I had an interesting "moment" yesterday. Mig welding a receiver hitch on a my neighbors Jeep. I was on my side, doo rag(to keep the hair from bursting into flames...don't ask), Hood on(to keep from blinding myself), gloves(so the slag does not land on my ring and melt into it...don't ask), long sleeves with tight cuffs(to keep the slag from getting in there and burning the arms), eyeglasses(so I can actually see what I am doing)...... ear plugs?...nawww, don't need those...welding is not a loud....right???

Since I could not clean some of the areas up under there I was welding dirty metal, which causes splatter, which launches in all directions in very small balls of "liquid hot magma" One of these tiny meteors landed on my left ear, which in itself causes discomfort, but then I felt it bounce around like a roulette ball from one side of my ear to the other. Then, yep HOLE IN ONE, right down the rabbit hole:dog. I shoot out from under the jeep while ripping off helmet, doo rag, eyeglasses and a few fillings. Neighbor was standing there drinking bottled water, grabbed it and drowned the Titanic boiler room that had erupted in my ear. Some searing, but it did not reach my ear drum....wheeeew

So, later I tell the wife the story, without hesitation, she says, "should stayed on your side...it would have just rolled out the other ear"

Ouch! Good thing you didn't smash your head into the bumper while scrambling out from under the jeep. But dully noted, I will be wearing ear plugs when welding in the future. That would have hurt like a banshee.

Two years ago I had tubes put in my ears - the kind kids normally get for frequent ear infections. The first one was put in by an ENT specialist who did it regularly. A few anesthetic drops, a quick cut in the ear drum, an unnerving experience of getting the excess fluid vacuumed out of the ear drum - I was worried he'd remove some grey matter in the process, then in pops the tube. 5 minutes and no fuss.

The first tube ended up working great - the doctor put it in as a long shot guess to help my severe hyperacusis. Being in a room with more than four people talking at normal levels was now bearable.

So I went to get the other ear done. Only I was in a different province which did not have approval for use of the anesthetic drops. So long story short, I put up with four needles getting jammed in and around my ear drum, then the less than competent doctor spent forever with that knife down my ear. Spent a week cleaning blood out. Not as painful as slag in the ear. Thankfully it was worth the hassle though. Even now after the tubes have come out, my sensitivity to noise is much less.

These are more likely the cause of tinnitus IMO.

Riding without ear plugs with extreme noisy helmets will certainly not improve your hearing, but usually for developing tinnitus takes more than just helmet noise alone.

Your wife is awesome - good line!

right... so not going to try it regularly. I want to keep my hearing and quite frankly I don't believe you.

(you don't happen to work for a tobacco company by any chance?)

fuck tinnitus

What?

Noise-wise there are differences of over 20 dB between different helmet models. If you have a quiet helmet, stick +/- to the speed limits, don't ride only on the racetrack etc. I don't think you will seriously damage your hearing - for ex. during your daily commute to work.

Besides, use common sense. If you have a helmet and the noise level gets overbearing at 60 mph of course use plugs or change your helmet for a quiter model.

But again, you'll get Tinnitus more likely for reasons as mentioned by inmate Motor7 IMO.

"more likely" I can agree to that. neither of my helmets are supa dupa quiet... but by and large as helmets go they're far from the worst. (shoei qwest and rpha max) I wear them from time to time sans plugs... certainly do. but I notice there's a substantial difference with and without and there's no way I'm going to make a habit out of helmet only. I can tell better and therefore know better. doesn't take a medical degree to recognize these things. it's like shooting... if you don't wear hearing protection you will notice. but am I going to wear it hunting? no (although I know they make protection for hunting, not going to bother. ok... skip that, depends on what I am hunting and the conditions. anyway getting off subject...

I still say most people that don't wear hearing protection do so because of either stubbornness or ignorance. I am ignorant on this subject no more and while I can be a bit stubborn I prefer to do so in a less dumb-ass manner.

I have had tinnitus in both ears, 24/7/365, now for 25+ years. Never stops or reduces. For the most part I have always worn full face helmets and ridden behind a fairing/windshield, for at least 30 years of my 42+ years of riding. However, the turbelent air of a fairing/windshield can create a lot of noise.

But for me, it seems if I wear earplugs, after the ride the tinnitus is actually louder, to me. Also, when I wear earplugs and walking around, each step sounds like a drumbeat in my head. So, most often, I don't wear earplugs.

Duck/goose hunting, yes, deer hunting no. I know I should but I still don't wear them when shooting 22LR rifles....and I have{cough} a few.

I have it - I know it's biking related even though I wore ear plugs (some may have been too soft of a material, and I also question if I could have sustained tinitus from just eh vibrations and/or air pressures on my sinuses, but I digress).

I've read up on it, and haven't read the whole thread, and you should know that diet influences the strength of many people's tinitus.

I lost my hearing and I was fitted with digital hearing aids that reduced noise. Then I got hit by a closing gate that took my hearing down to. 37%. My insurance (since gone) payed for a cochlear implant.
I suggest that a hearing test be done for anyone with reduced hearing or ringing in the ear.

Yes, with out protection you will lose your hearing & there will be "ringing", I know because I have had a mild case of Tinnitus for decades. I believe I lessened the continued loss by wearing ear protection. Of course have spent some time near very loud noise contributed to the condition.

I've had the 7500 hz tone in my ears for as long as I remember, even as a kid. Not sure if I was ever exposed to some seriously loud noise, perhaps once or twice, but certainly not on a continuous basis.

Yes the ringing get worse as I wear ear plugs but I am not sure that I cannot put up with that for the length of a ride as opposed to loosing my hearing later on. YMMV

really do wish it would stop though....

It will stop, unfortunatly so will brain functions, heart, lungs etc...

Also unaware when I am asleep. Thankfully.

Tag line is appropriate, urbanXJ.

I too hear Cicadas 24/7. If I was to sit around and think of that noise in my head, I'd be locked up somewhere. Never had or used ear plugs in Vietnam (Arty and Inf)) the 3 years I was there. I'm using some ear plugs now to try and save what I have left. Hope younger riders will take heed.

I have it. 54. Been riding for 30 years. The GS I just picked up last April has been giving me fits, in terms of figuring out how to knock down the wind noise. I'm on a Parabellum screen now, which does a pretty good job. Also added a spoiler to my Shoei fullface, which has helped as well.

Always been an earplug wearer - I really think this new (to me) GS is the source of my tinnitus. Went to otiologist and had a full hearing test. Showed a big dip around 4000 hz, which he says is pretty much expected for someone my age. He said the odd thing with that is, it doesn't matter what the frequency was of the sound that caused the loss, the dip shows up around 4 KHz regardless. Kind of odd, but apparently that is the way it goes; and the older you get, the more this happens - it's cumulative, as others have already said.

Anyway - my goal is to mitigate any additional sources that contribute to more loss, so if that means getting out of the GS and into an RT, then so be it. I'd rather notch it down a click on my ride, and be able to enjoy a good Bird solo, or aria when I'm 70.

Gettin' old sh*t - it's a bitch.

So are you stating that despite wearing ear plugs you still developed tinnitus from the bikes?

Because I believe that's what happened to me, as difficult as it is to believe.