Never ever tried this....

Doesn't it make you go deaf ??

All that wind noise and loud music...

Serious question..

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

You're correct Ted, listening to music while riding can be hazardous for your hearing. But depends on listening level and type of ear bud or headphones used.

Ear buds can cut wind rumble and protect from that ... but if you crank up the Tunes to be able to hear the music over road noise ... well that's where damage can occur.

Ear buds sit IN the ear canal and pretty much seal off the canal. The speaker driver ends up in close proximity to your ear drum. If you crank the volume to overcome road noise you may ... OVER TIME ... do damage to your hearing.

Some use in helmet speakers. These are less damaging as are further from ear drum. But riders with this system tend to really crank UP volume to hear the music properly ... so also result in damage.

The smart rider will insert ear plugs ... then use over the ear phones on top of that. Does it work well? No. You're hearing is safe but the sound sucks.

Not sure of the answer here ... and I'm a sound man by trade, so I should know. But I don't.

I see many riders using ear buds and tell me "oh, no problem, my hearing is fine!" Uh huh. Come back in a year and lets do a hearing test. It takes years and hours and hours and hours of loud listening to do real, irreversible damage. Once those little Scilia fibers surrounding your ear drum are disturbed, you first will lose very high frequencies. Next you'll have trouble understanding conversation in a loud bar. Next, the mid range begins to fade away and you miss a lot of what is said.

All this happens naturally over time as we age. It affects some more than others. But there is NO QUESTION that loud listening does damage if you're overexposed to loud music ... or low frequency wind rumble from riding without ear plugs. Both will make you deaf ... eventually.

The Japanese did extensive and rigorous testing on this back in the 80's during the "WalkMan" Craze. Thousands of Japanese students were losing their hearing. And guess what? In those day most used "over the ear" phones, not in ear Ear Buds like today. The Ear Buds are far more dangerous as they SEAL the ear canal (no venting) and they place speaker driver close to ear drum.

I ride a KTM with arrow pipes. What more music than that do I need?

Granted a few hours at 140 kmh plus without earplugs and my ears are ringing, but more from the wind noise.

I splashed out and bought some custom moulded earplugs, with the tiny little speaker gadget thingys that send sound up a curly tube into the moulds.

Best thing I've ever done.
Knocks out most of the wind noise and [HD] engine noise, and I run the MP3 player at about third of the volume I used to.

I feel much better at the end of a long day on the road.

Loud pipes will never hurt your hearing. Wrong frequencies and proximity is too far from ear drum and well filtered by even a mediocre helmet.

What does the damage is LOW FREQUENCY WIND RUMBLE. Plugs knock a lot of that down. The trick is finding comfortable plugs that you can wear all day without soreness or sensitivity.

I use Howard Leight Laser Lite plugs. Best I've found among at least ten brands I've tried and tested ... and for me, very comfortable ... AND you can still hear things like Horns, Sirens and even some conversation ...although all muted quite a bit.

Even a very quiet, quality helmet like a top of the line Arai or Schuberth, you can still get some low freq. wind rumble at speed. Some windshields can make rumble (buffeting) worse, causing more damage.

Take Care!

Agree with you there Mollydog, I find the low screen on the DR and my Arai XD3 generates quite a bit of wind noise which is tiring on a long days riding, but I prefer peaked helmets. I already have some tinnitus from shooting small arms/rockets/ tanks in the military, so am a bit more careful these days to use earplugs, with a scala rider headset earpiece mounted in the helmet for radio/mp3/listening to the wife nagging me.


Ive slid 100 + feet on my face at 80 mph/130 kmh on asphalt in my old Arai Tour Cross (Euro model of original XD) and have no problem investing money on a quality lid.

Figure out your head shape and go from there, Arai make shapes for most peoples melons, but buy what is comfortable and as good quality as you can afford. Snell standards change every few years, so a cheaper lid that meets the M2010 standard MAY be a better buy than a more expensive lid that only meets M2005, but it still has to fit properly.


http://www.smf.org/home


Mollydog, that was one hell of a tumble down a cliff!

__________________
Cheers
Grif

'11 KTM 450 EXC
'09 Suzuki DR650
'00 Discovery Series 2 V8
'95 Defender 90 300 Tdi Overlander
http://gipperstravels.blogspot.ca

The common knowledge tells us that Arai and Shoei have two different head shapes ... but in recent years I think they've both come to sort of the "middle" on this. (Shoei thought of as "long, narrow head, Arai more a round head.) Modern versions of both seem to fit me well. If Arai made a helmet like my Multi-tec ... I'd buy it.

Like you say, try them all on ... leave on a while. If you get "hot spots" you can often depress the inner foam liner with your thump ... this helps a lot for Hot Spots and fine tuning comfort.

Snell Foundation - home

Maybe would have been better if it was a tumble ... but it fact it was a free fall, according to CHP who wrote up report. All my buddies assumed I was dead. I was very lucky to have survived.

My buddies stopped, looked over the guardrail, down into creek bed where I landed. Then I got UP!!! (and fell back down! ) It took 15 minutes just to get to me. Luckily there was an access road fairly close. Paramedics carried me to an ambulance then to waiting chopper. 2.5 years later I was back on the bike. Best news is I remember NOTHING of the crash at all ... natures way of saving us from bad memories. ... and I did go to heaven, briefly!

Highway 36 is one of the best roads in the country ... but never get cocky .. like I did.

I just bought a Neotech. While it fits very well, it is noisy from the front vent while onmy KTM 990. My Multitech was much more quiet.

My vote is still pending on the Neotech, but I love love love the inner sun shade.

Arai XD3/XD4 if it fits your head shape.

Pros:
1. Excellent, excellent, venting in hot weather.
2. Breathable head liner.
3. Fairly quiet.
4. The visor is good in bright sun, just tilt your head a little to block it out.
5. High quality removable pads and head liner that can washed many times without falling apart.
6. Availability of replacement parts.

Cons:
1. Cost.
2. Cross winds, but the visor can be removed.

If your visor is down (i use full face helmet) then very little wind noise, on my last trip i mostly listen to music on my MP3 on long stretches.

I have only been riding just over a year however for work i have to have full medicals including ear tests, my hearing has always been the same level since my fist medical 10 years ago apart from slight loss in my right ear but this was because of my previous work occupation where i was exposed to high noise levels

I will carry on listening to music on long boring stretches but if my hearing was to be effected this would present itself at my next yearly medical and then i would know why

A good helmet does make a difference. Also, if no shield on the bike ... that's usually quieter with less buffeting too.

If you listen at LOW levels ... you'll not do too much damage ... but I find that hard to do. Also, road speed makes a BIG difference. If you can keep it under 60 mph on a calm day ... you shouldn't get too much wind noise ... so listening level can be fairly low.

Hearing loss is very devious: Sneaky, slow and subtle ... until it's not and then one year you're tests show you're not hearing high freq's anymore!!! or lost 50% of them.

Once that happens ... lose the music because next up will be mid range freq's ... which most affect understanding of speech.

Lose the mid range and you're an instant Deaf Fookin Geezer everybody just assumes is retarded or has had a stroke. Not a nice place to be boys. Save your Ears!

(semi deaf sound guy talking here ... way too many gun battles on set) :confused1: :confused1: Huh? Was 'dat?

Has anybody got an opinion on the Shoei J-Cruise helmets ?
I am not really a full face person so these appeal !!!

Thanks
Paul

__________________
....rather Die Living.....than Live Dying !
www.globetrekkers.net.au

In the end I went with a Shoei GT AIR. It was expensive but only one I could find that felt right. Fits like a glove and is very comfortable. Hardly notice its on but really appreciate the quietness and the sun visor is great, esp as you can just lower it a little to take the edge of a low sun. now I never go anywhere without earplugs and I find a bandanna around my neck cuts out wind noise near completely.

Ted; I tried the mp3 thing but was a PITA to get the cables and buds to sit right, and having to pull over and take off gloves, etc to change track also, so after a while judt went back to earplugs. I found it was a distraction and disconnected me from my surroundings.

Molly; you say a windscreen causes more noise and buffeting or less? I thought it was other way around!

Windscreens can go either way. If the design is just right, and set perfectly for your height, then they can be quieter.

But many times they are noisy and cause buffeting ... and in this case they can be noisier than NO shield at all. So it's tricky getting the right shield at the right height and angle to work on your bike. It's all fairly subjective as well.

I've struggled on many bikes to get the right shield and then get it set to be quiet for me. I've been through 4 shields on my 1050 Tiger ... never have found one that's much good. On my Vstrom (90K miles) I found the Holy Grail and got a quiet shield. The BMW guys go insane with this issue ... and spend hundreds and hundreds trying different shield solutions. It's a whole long (and very boring)topic on many forums ... thank god not so much here.
(we've better things to do I guess!)

If you fit a shield, just make sure you set it up so it can be adjusted on several planes. (forward, back, angle and height) can be a bit of a nightmare. (I am a pro audio guy so am picky about wind noise)

good luck

Hmm, interesting! Was debating getting one for my tornado but perhaps the cash is better spent elsewhere.