Thinking it's time to quit :-(

[bonio]

I think the sad day is slowly approaching. 

I've been getting tinnitus from riding, and it's been building up slowly over the last 12 months and getting worse.

I use 39db foamies (I tried custom ear plugs, but ow they hurt and they were no improvement). Use a Shoei GT Air, which is supposed to be a quiet lid. I wear a balaclava and a thick neck buff to reduce wind noise from around the neck, and stuff the microphone recesses in the lid with foam to reduce reverberation. Bike's got a decent Puig screen. With all this, the wind is actually pretty quiet - I wonder if my ears have just become supersensitive and ring like crazy for almost no reason. 

I had an appointment with an audiologist and they said I had a bit of hearing loss, which was normal for my age and nothing to worry about.

The bad thing is, when I didn't ride much this winter gone, the tinnitus got a bit better, but now I'm back riding more, it's going downhill again, and almost on every ride. 

Wondering about trying out some different bikes in the search of a quieter ride, but I doubt it exists.  

 

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

1 hour ago, bonio said:

I think the sad day is slowly approaching. 

I've been getting tinnitus from riding, and it's been building up slowly over the last 12 months and getting worse.

I use 39db foamies (I tried custom ear plugs, but ow they hurt and they were no improvement). Use a Shoei GT Air, which is supposed to be a quiet lid. I wear a balaclava and a thick neck buff to reduce wind noise from around the neck, and stuff the microphone recesses in the lid with foam to reduce reverberation. Bike's got a decent Puig screen. With all this, the wind is actually pretty quiet - I wonder if my ears have just become supersensitive and ring like crazy for almost no reason. 

I had an appointment with an audiologist and they said I had a bit of hearing loss, which was normal for my age and nothing to worry about.

The bad thing is, when I didn't ride much this winter gone, the tinnitus got a bit better, but now I'm back riding more, it's going downhill again, and almost on every ride. 

Wondering about trying out some different bikes in the search of a quieter ride, but I doubt it exists.  

 

I have always suffered from Tinnitus but this year it has got much worse. I've been experimenting with various types of earplugs and also invested in a Schuberth C3 Pro.

 

Work at the moment is a nightmare with the continuing effects of Covid and a deluge of new legislation which means providing hours of training for all our volunteers - 80% of which have disappeared during Covid and those that are left are not happy at the new regulations landed on them for what is after all a voluntary role. So I'm thinking that stress levels have something to with it.

 

I have tried custom plugs and the first set were hopeless, the second set were quieter but not comfortable. 

 

I have tried various forms of silicone cone shaped plugs, from £3.95 for 10 off eBay to Earpeace, Senner and Alpine Race. There's not a lot to choose between them but Alpine Race win by a small margin for comfort and sound deadening. I find that how you put them in makes a big difference and they are the easiest to get in right as they come with a small tube which works well. 

 

The biggest single difference was the Schuberth C3 Pro. I looked at other versions but went with local advice that for the money the C3 Pro is still the quietest and is now significantly reduced in cost. Although wind noise is greatly reduced I still need earplugs at anything over 40mph, but on a naked bike like the Bobber at 70mph it is a huge reduction in sound volume. In fact it's so quiet I can now hear my tinnitus whilst riding - which may not be brilliant but it shows how quiet it is. I can still hear traffic and the engine note enough.

 

Flip front helmets can offer better sound protection due to the thicker neck roll. 

 

The thing with tinnitus is that it's more to do with the auditory nerves and brain than your ears. 

[Bianco2564]

I find a massive difference in wind noise between the Silverwing and the R1, R1 being much quieter for the same speed.

SW has a very tall upright screen and produces an awful lot of buffeting, R1 by contrast has a really low screen and more aerodynamic resulting in much less noise.

Don't wear ear plugs on either.

 

[Bender]

What about one of the lids with built in noise cancelling system? 

[Guest]

What about this type of thing?

https://quietridemuffs.com/order_now/

[Stu]

I got something called Ramsey Hunt Syndrome at the start of 2020 which has left me with hearing loss and tinnitus! 

 

Stress certainly makes it worse as does lack of sleep! 

 

Being out on the bike does aggravate it a little but I have already learn to live with it! 

 

Before all this when I had been out on the bike my ears always seemed a bit sensitive to sound after a long days riding and I would get a slight ringing in my ears but it wasn't anything to complain about to be fair

[Old-codger]

25 minutes ago, Stu said:

I got something called Ramsey Hunt Syndrome

I thought that was a phobia to mouthy chefs.

[Mickly]

58 minutes ago, Stu said:

I got something called Ramsey Hunt Syndrome at the start of 2020 which has left me with hearing loss and tinnitus! 

 

Stress certainly makes it worse as does lack of sleep! 

 

Being out on the bike does aggravate it a little but I have already learn to live with it! 

 

Before all this when I had been out on the bike my ears always seemed a bit sensitive to sound after a long days riding and I would get a slight ringing in my ears but it wasn't anything to complain about to be fair

I’ve not been diagnosed with anything related ( mainly because I haven’t mentioned it to the Doc ) but I have tinnitus that comes and goes, it seems to be definitely stress / hangover related, I can go ages without noticing it, although it’s probably there at a low level and suddenly it’s there with a vengeance.

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

1 hour ago, goat said:

What about this type of thing?

https://quietridemuffs.com/order_now/

Having looked at the installation instructions which use a kitchen knife to "stab out and remove concussion lining" of the helmet.....I think I'll pass. I suspect helmet manufacturers tell you not to modify them for a reason.

[Stu]

Just now, Mickly said:

I’ve not been diagnosed with anything related ( mainly because I haven’t mentioned it to the Doc ) but I have tinnitus that comes and goes, it seems to be definitely stress / hangover related, I can go ages without noticing it, although it’s probably there at a low level and suddenly it’s there with a vengeance.

 

Ramsey hunt syndrome isn't related as such! Google what it is 

 

But it causes damage to the nerves and hearing loss and causes tinnitus amongst other long term issues I've been left with

 

[Stu]

42 minutes ago, Old-codger said:

I thought that was a phobia to mouthy chefs.

 

I wish it was! 

[Guest]

16 minutes ago, Mississippi Bullfrog said:

Having looked at the installation instructions which use a kitchen knife to "stab out and remove concussion lining" of the helmet.....I think I'll pass. I suspect helmet manufacturers tell you not to modify them for a reason.

Talk about fussy. To be honest I didn't look that far and yes that is bloody mental .

[Guest]

You can get noise cancelling earplugs but not sure how well they would work on a bike.

https://quieton.com/technology/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwsdiTBhD5ARIsAIpW8CK2w_iAGqG2F_rYgEFNMvtCLw_807z2sNOyxWektSkrgNss2lfn_ccaAveuEALw_wcB

 

[bonio]

3 hours ago, Stu said:

 

Ramsey hunt syndrome isn't related as such! Google what it is 

 

But it causes damage to the nerves and hearing loss and causes tinnitus amongst other long term issues I've been left with

 

Sounds rough

 

[bonio]

3 hours ago, goat said:

You can get noise cancelling earplugs but not sure how well they would work on a bike.

https://quieton.com/technology/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwsdiTBhD5ARIsAIpW8CK2w_iAGqG2F_rYgEFNMvtCLw_807z2sNOyxWektSkrgNss2lfn_ccaAveuEALw_wcB

 

Thought about them and did a load of research on them. Found a pair on Amazon with reviews from bikers, bought them, but sent them back as they didn't fit under the lid. tbh I wasn't expecting any great improvement as when I compared the noise cancelling specs, even the best of them are very similar to good foamies.

 

 

 

 

I'll play around with some better foam padding and perhaps get a keffiyeh or something and see if I can get it better under control.

[Stu]

6 minutes ago, bonio said:

Sounds rough 

 

 

It was! and still is! 

 

almost 8 months off work with it! 

 

Lots of nerve damage and muscle weakness in my face and as I say left with hearing loss of about 40% left in my right ear and also tinnitus in both ears although I do believe riding bikes has contributed to that too! 

To be honest I have just got used to the ringing! at first it was a nightmare and would stop me sleeping but I am out like a like now

 

[JRH]

Had tinnitus for years now. Probably due to listening to loud music through headphones and riding motorbikes for the best part of 20 years before I started to use ear plugs. Now I always use ear plugs and they cut down on the wind noise which enables me to hear the tinnitus ringing in my ears much better.

[bonio]

1 hour ago, JRH said:

Had tinnitus for years now. Probably due to listening to loud music through headphones and riding motorbikes for the best part of 20 years before I started to use ear plugs. Now I always use ear plugs and they cut down on the wind noise which enables me to hear the tinnitus ringing in my ears much better.

Haha. Nothing like ear plugs for turning the tinnitus volume up  

[bonio]

6 hours ago, goat said:

You can get noise cancelling earplugs but not sure how well they would work on a bike.

https://quieton.com/technology/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwsdiTBhD5ARIsAIpW8CK2w_iAGqG2F_rYgEFNMvtCLw_807z2sNOyxWektSkrgNss2lfn_ccaAveuEALw_wcB

 

Oops, perhaps not those ones...

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

@bonio have a look at an online tone generator like szynalski.com. Try different frequencies to see if you can find a pitch that matches your tinnitus. I find that short spells of sound at the same pitch makes my tinnitus go quieter for a while. It seems to break the cycle when the noise is just constant.

[S-Westerly]

Have had low level tinnitus for 20 years and I don't really notice it unless I think about it. When riding the bike I wear moulded earplugs that work well for me provided I get them seated properly. Off the bike I find that occasionally if I get stressed the tinnitus gets more noticeable but usually I'm too busy to think about it!  Been through the full medical assessment and basically it seemed to boil down to "shit happens and you just have to live with it" which isn't really what I wanted to hear. 

[Bender]

3 hours ago, S-Westerly said:

Have had low level tinnitus for 20 years and I don't really notice it unless I think about it. When riding the bike I wear moulded earplugs that work well for me provided I get them seated properly. Off the bike I find that occasionally if I get stressed the tinnitus gets more noticeable but usually I'm too busy to think about it!  Been through the full medical assessment and basically it seemed to boil down to "shit happens and you just have to live with it" which isn't really what I wanted to hear. 

Similar here, mines a bit more than background and it is constant, completely self inflicted I would imagine, music and work, only yesterday I was cutting tiles with grinder, got half way through and had to stop and plug my ears with kitchen roll dohh. 

 

Any loud noise now makes it worse for a few days, I will never learn. 

[fullscreenaging]

4 hours ago, S-Westerly said:

basically it seemed to boil down to "shit happens and you just have to live with it" which isn't really what I wanted to hear. 

That’s got to make a change from the constant height pitch ringing?

 

 

I have tinnitus too. It’s there all the time and most of the time I don’t really notice it. Only come to the front when it’s quiet. I wear ear plugs when I work nights and go to bed in the mornings. It can really play up then. I’ve just learned to live with it. 
I will have a look at the tone generator site.

[fullscreenaging]

I have found that 

 

15,895 Hz on a SINE wavelength matches, and completely negates my tinnitus. 
Cheers for that @Mississippi Bullfrog

 

 

[bonio]

On 08/05/2022 at 21:52, Mississippi Bullfrog said:

@bonio have a look at an online tone generator like szynalski.com. Try different frequencies to see if you can find a pitch that matches your tinnitus. I find that short spells of sound at the same pitch makes my tinnitus go quieter for a while. It seems to break the cycle when the noise is just constant.

Wowzer that actually works. 6081Hz hits the spot.