Hearing Safety –
Your Helmet is Not Enough!
I
BY JASMINE BLUECREEK CLARK
ill-fitting helmet can actually increase the wind noise
in your ears up to as much as 110-116 dB from 35
mph up to highway speeds. You’re only allowed 15
minutes (during 24 hours) exposure at 115 dB, so
that doesn’t leave much time to enjoy your ride huh?
expect if I took a tally, only a few riders would
say that they really give a lot of thought to their
hearing safety while riding. I know I didn’t until
a few years ago when, after a long road trip to
Oregon and back, and I couldn’t hear anything at all
but wind noise ringing in my ears for nearly twentyfour hours. My hearing was seriously impacted
after that trip. I could not hear anybody speaking to
me for three days. Scary Stuff!
Audiologists call the condition Temporary Threshold
Shift or TTS. Temporary Threshold Shift is caused by excessive noise
exposure for a length of time – it drops your actual acute hearing pattern
to a lower level temporarily. Continuous Temporary Threshold Shift
exposure will eventually result in permanent damage to your hearing.
I now pay more attention to protecting my hearing. Perhaps those
short low speed rides around town are OK without extra hearing
protection. One might even argue that the extra bit of hearing you
have when not wearing the plugs could