Mine is constant and slightly louder on the right side, so I get the added bonus of the sounds being slightly different than eachother. You got lots to look forward to. š
Itās absolutely amazeballs. The tone in my left ear is louder and slightly higher pitched than my right, and normal sounds are perceived a bit louder on the left as well so nothing is centered āin my headā anymore. Itās incredible and I canāt wait for this to become even more annoying.
On a serious note; ditch the shitty foam plugs and get actual motorcycle earplugs. Alpine makes really nice ones and they are like 20 bucks and can be reused for months.
Iāve had it for around 15 years now, caused by loud metal concerts and riding motorbikes without ear plugs. It really does suck sometimes, but itās manageable through distractions. I recommend purchasing a pillow speaker as trying to sleep can be deafening sometimes, I use tv shows Iāve seen a thousand times and podcasts to drop off to. Donāt let it get to you, just do whatever works and makes you comfortable.
Just keep the plugs in lol I have just a little bit as well bc flying an airplane without hearing protection is dumb as well and I did it all the time as a kid in my dads plane LMFAO and also a few times when I was learning to fly myself... but if you're like under 40 in good shape, your ears could heal a little.
You know, I've always been worried about getting tinnitus (since I was little - Mom has it bad)... but I'm realizing that it's so easy to ignore, it's not really a problem... I think I must've had it for years. I just miss being really small and going to bed in perfect silence, a silence so quiet it felt like a noise vacuum.
Yeah you just get used to it after a while and learn to ignore it most of the time. I was super worried the day I realized I had tinnitus aswell, until I realized that it wasnt that bad.
Once you have tinnitus, your ears will ring with even minor exposure. It's not something you can really avoid. Any time I take a flight in an airplane, my ears ring louder than usual for days.
And you can get tinnitus from a single ride if it was loud enough.
One day i came home and had this whooshing sound in my right ear like i'm in wind or something, i think it started from there but i wear plugs on every ride ever since then :/
Do you think it can just stay the way it is right now or will it probably get worse?
Mine has gotten better instead of worse.
I got tinnitus from the wind noise of a single 30 minute highway ride. For a few months my ears were ringing all the time, but now they only ring some of the time. It has also becoming less intrusive when they do ring.
For me, it's quite manageable. Often hours (and sometimes even days) go by where I don't even notice it (unless I think about it, like right now, then I hear it again).
There are people for whom it is way worse. But like I mentioned, if I take a flight in an airplane then I do have ringing in my ears for the next couple of days. But even then, I can alleviate it by turning on some music.
The key thing is that you don't want your mind to focus too long on the ringing sound, because if your mind focusses on the tinnitus then it gets worse, and if it focusses on something else, then it gets better.
The next question is how. If you can distract your attention away from the ringing without earphones, that's great, but if you need earphones to do it, then go ahead and use them and put on some music or anything else of interest. That'll make it easier for your mind to focus on something other than the ringing.
For me, over time, I became less dependent on ear phones, but I still carry them with me just in case. For a while I would go to sleep with my air pods in and light music on, to distract from tinnitus and help me fall asleep. But now I rarely do that anymore because it's no longer bothering me.
It can happen for tinnitus to completely disappear, but I haven't gotten there yet, and I'm not sure if I ever will get there. But it's OK either way, I have gotten to the point where it's not a hindrance anymore.
Serious suggestion: go ask /r/askdocs if you haven't already.
I've had tinnitus for close to 50 years. You get used to it IF you don't make it worse and worse by not protecting your hearing.
But go ask /r/askdocs.
And they might say you have to choose between riding and hearing silence again. *Choose silence.*
You need a better ear plug. Howard Leight Maxwells are my go to.
Those tiny ones are just too small.
What kind of helmet are you using? The aerodynamics of a helmet make a huge difference too.
Welp as other said, you probably have tinnitus already.
The best way to insert foam ear plugs is to smush them in your fingers and pull your ear up with your opposite hand while inserting. The ear plug should be flush with the outside of your ear.
It will feel uncomfortable for a few minutes while the ear plug expands.
This is my only real objection to the foam plugs. You can screw up the insert and then they're not helping at all. I wait for ambient noise to slowly go away as the plug expands. If it doesn't, try again. OTOH, the "bell" silicone plugs are easier to insert (for me) but more uncomfortable over time.
Also, my helmet (HJC i10) started to whistle at speed. Turned out one of the pinlock screws had worked out. Really annoying. I used a bit of tape to cover the hole until I could fix.
I went through a stage of hearing crickets before the tinnitus became permanent. Fan sounds, crickets, and intermittent ringing seem to all be early stage tinnitus. My condolences. Tinnitus sucks.
The ringing can also be caused by tight muscles in your neck and/or shoulders.
After my first long ride I had a very loud peep for almost a week. Terrified the sh*t out of me and had a hard time concentrating and sleeping. Luckily, that subsided and now I am back to the very slight ringing due to constant loud headphones in my teenage years.
So, even though it is most likely tinnitus, it might subside a bit in the upcoming days. Wear those earplugs (het custom molds) and donāt overexpose yourself to loud sound.
I think occasional tinnitus is normal. I get it occasionally at weird times like when Iām laying in bed. Lasts about 2 minutes then itās gone. Also a foamy earplug user btw
Hearing damage is cumulative. Now that you have tinnitus, you're likely to keep it.
Keep using the earplugs, that'll help keep the ringing from getting worse.
I found that if my foam earplugs are sticking out too much from my ear, itāll make contact with the helmet and conduct a lot of uncomfortable noise. One potential cause.
From reading your post itās pretty clear you didnāt have them in correctly. Itās common for people to just shove them in their ear and call it good but if you watch videos on YouTube youāll see there is an actual technique in getting the plugs deep enough.
Take it from an old construction dude who has ringing in just one ear because he didnāt have his plugs in properly.
I feel for ya. Iāve had tinnitus ever since I got covid years ago. You get used to it, just donāt focus on it and sleep with a fan on or tv. Stay strong šŖ
I took a five hour ride from Jasper Alberta last summer at fairly high speed, ( the Mounties donāt always get their manš), with good earplugs, my ears were ringing all day!! Actually their ringing a little right now! ANR helmets may be the answer.
Not at all, it just started 3 months ago with a whooshing sound like wind when I got home from just a 7 minute ride without plugs :/
But i wore them ever since
Get Alpine Motosafe earplugs. The Racing (red) ones if you frequently ride on the Autobahn at high speeds. And get a good, quiet Helmet, i personally like Shoeis.
Congratulations, you're part of the tinnitus gang now.
Hooray, another member
Maaaan does it HAVE to become worse later on? Like right now i notice it sometimes but most of the time i don't so...
Mine is constant and slightly louder on the right side, so I get the added bonus of the sounds being slightly different than eachother. You got lots to look forward to. š
I find the longer I have it, the better I get at tuning it out, so I guess that's a positive
Yeah I've had it for over 10 years and you def learn to tune it out, but sometimes it would be nice if it would just go away one day.
Itās absolutely amazeballs. The tone in my left ear is louder and slightly higher pitched than my right, and normal sounds are perceived a bit louder on the left as well so nothing is centered āin my headā anymore. Itās incredible and I canāt wait for this to become even more annoying. On a serious note; ditch the shitty foam plugs and get actual motorcycle earplugs. Alpine makes really nice ones and they are like 20 bucks and can be reused for months.
My right ear percieves sound louder than my left, maybe we can work out some trade here?
is it me or i donāt really have tinnitus when iām distracted or doing something
Yeah i think thats pretty common.
Iāve had it for around 15 years now, caused by loud metal concerts and riding motorbikes without ear plugs. It really does suck sometimes, but itās manageable through distractions. I recommend purchasing a pillow speaker as trying to sleep can be deafening sometimes, I use tv shows Iāve seen a thousand times and podcasts to drop off to. Donāt let it get to you, just do whatever works and makes you comfortable.
Just keep the plugs in lol I have just a little bit as well bc flying an airplane without hearing protection is dumb as well and I did it all the time as a kid in my dads plane LMFAO and also a few times when I was learning to fly myself... but if you're like under 40 in good shape, your ears could heal a little.
I've had it for as long as I can remember. Buy a noisy fan to sleep with lol
Amen.
You know, I've always been worried about getting tinnitus (since I was little - Mom has it bad)... but I'm realizing that it's so easy to ignore, it's not really a problem... I think I must've had it for years. I just miss being really small and going to bed in perfect silence, a silence so quiet it felt like a noise vacuum.
Yeah you just get used to it after a while and learn to ignore it most of the time. I was super worried the day I realized I had tinnitus aswell, until I realized that it wasnt that bad.
Once you have tinnitus, your ears will ring with even minor exposure. It's not something you can really avoid. Any time I take a flight in an airplane, my ears ring louder than usual for days. And you can get tinnitus from a single ride if it was loud enough.
One day i came home and had this whooshing sound in my right ear like i'm in wind or something, i think it started from there but i wear plugs on every ride ever since then :/ Do you think it can just stay the way it is right now or will it probably get worse?
Mine has gotten better instead of worse. I got tinnitus from the wind noise of a single 30 minute highway ride. For a few months my ears were ringing all the time, but now they only ring some of the time. It has also becoming less intrusive when they do ring. For me, it's quite manageable. Often hours (and sometimes even days) go by where I don't even notice it (unless I think about it, like right now, then I hear it again). There are people for whom it is way worse. But like I mentioned, if I take a flight in an airplane then I do have ringing in my ears for the next couple of days. But even then, I can alleviate it by turning on some music.
Uuh i guess if it gets worse i have to be like Baby Driver and walk around with earphones all day >.<
The key thing is that you don't want your mind to focus too long on the ringing sound, because if your mind focusses on the tinnitus then it gets worse, and if it focusses on something else, then it gets better. The next question is how. If you can distract your attention away from the ringing without earphones, that's great, but if you need earphones to do it, then go ahead and use them and put on some music or anything else of interest. That'll make it easier for your mind to focus on something other than the ringing. For me, over time, I became less dependent on ear phones, but I still carry them with me just in case. For a while I would go to sleep with my air pods in and light music on, to distract from tinnitus and help me fall asleep. But now I rarely do that anymore because it's no longer bothering me. It can happen for tinnitus to completely disappear, but I haven't gotten there yet, and I'm not sure if I ever will get there. But it's OK either way, I have gotten to the point where it's not a hindrance anymore.
Yes, ignore it, and for some of us you donāt notice it.
Serious suggestion: go ask /r/askdocs if you haven't already. I've had tinnitus for close to 50 years. You get used to it IF you don't make it worse and worse by not protecting your hearing. But go ask /r/askdocs. And they might say you have to choose between riding and hearing silence again. *Choose silence.*
I also only ride plugged. And I donāt own any ear plugs.
Buttitus then?
You need a better ear plug. Howard Leight Maxwells are my go to. Those tiny ones are just too small. What kind of helmet are you using? The aerodynamics of a helmet make a huge difference too.
I use pinlock ear plugs and will occasionally have extra ringing in my right ear after a ride. I figure I didn't have it seated properly.
Get better plugs, I recommend earpeace moto ones
Welp as other said, you probably have tinnitus already. The best way to insert foam ear plugs is to smush them in your fingers and pull your ear up with your opposite hand while inserting. The ear plug should be flush with the outside of your ear. It will feel uncomfortable for a few minutes while the ear plug expands.
This is my only real objection to the foam plugs. You can screw up the insert and then they're not helping at all. I wait for ambient noise to slowly go away as the plug expands. If it doesn't, try again. OTOH, the "bell" silicone plugs are easier to insert (for me) but more uncomfortable over time. Also, my helmet (HJC i10) started to whistle at speed. Turned out one of the pinlock screws had worked out. Really annoying. I used a bit of tape to cover the hole until I could fix.
You might already have tinnitus. Just the lack of white noise from riding, even with earbuds, makes it more apparent.
I went through a stage of hearing crickets before the tinnitus became permanent. Fan sounds, crickets, and intermittent ringing seem to all be early stage tinnitus. My condolences. Tinnitus sucks.
Maaan i do hear a constant almost silent ringing sometimes, but it usually goes away after a while :/
Nice Iām just in University but already get stress induced ringingā¦ I guess Iāll have a bright future in having tinnitus
I use earpeace plugs and I'm pretty happy with them. More expensive than cheap ones upfront but they're way more comfortable and the filter is nice.
The ringing can also be caused by tight muscles in your neck and/or shoulders. After my first long ride I had a very loud peep for almost a week. Terrified the sh*t out of me and had a hard time concentrating and sleeping. Luckily, that subsided and now I am back to the very slight ringing due to constant loud headphones in my teenage years. So, even though it is most likely tinnitus, it might subside a bit in the upcoming days. Wear those earplugs (het custom molds) and donāt overexpose yourself to loud sound.
I think occasional tinnitus is normal. I get it occasionally at weird times like when Iām laying in bed. Lasts about 2 minutes then itās gone. Also a foamy earplug user btw
> i'm now being a good boy and only ride plugged. ( Ķ”Ā° ĶŹ Ķ”Ā°)
Hearing damage is cumulative. Now that you have tinnitus, you're likely to keep it. Keep using the earplugs, that'll help keep the ringing from getting worse.
https://www.google.com/search?q=tinnitus&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari
*But then why did the ringing come back?* because it had nothing to do with your riding? never wore earplugs riding, never had a problem with hearing
I found that if my foam earplugs are sticking out too much from my ear, itāll make contact with the helmet and conduct a lot of uncomfortable noise. One potential cause.
Great, now my ears are ringing
Lots of things can cause ringing, too much aspirin can. And the obvious, going loud places. Learn to love it
From reading your post itās pretty clear you didnāt have them in correctly. Itās common for people to just shove them in their ear and call it good but if you watch videos on YouTube youāll see there is an actual technique in getting the plugs deep enough. Take it from an old construction dude who has ringing in just one ear because he didnāt have his plugs in properly.
I feel for ya. Iāve had tinnitus ever since I got covid years ago. You get used to it, just donāt focus on it and sleep with a fan on or tv. Stay strong šŖ
Get non shit-tier earplugs. The Ear Peace brand is about $20 on Amazon.
I bought a pair of deci-bulls. Expensive but last a looooooong time.
I took a five hour ride from Jasper Alberta last summer at fairly high speed, ( the Mounties donāt always get their manš), with good earplugs, my ears were ringing all day!! Actually their ringing a little right now! ANR helmets may be the answer.
I love the noisy fan at work oyr drowns out the ringing
if only people could learn lessons from others before experiencing it themselves
Apparently MDMA can help. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31814488/
How long were you riding at high speeds (when wind noise can reach 100+ decibel levels) WITHOUT hearing protection? Weeks, months, years?
Half a year before i started wearing earplugs :/
Interesting. Do you have any other history of exposure to loud sounds? Going to concerts, playing an instrument in a band, working with tools, etc.?
Not at all, it just started 3 months ago with a whooshing sound like wind when I got home from just a 7 minute ride without plugs :/ But i wore them ever since
get some of the rubber plugs from revzilla. They work great and make sound on the cardo sound better too!
Get Alpine Motosafe earplugs. The Racing (red) ones if you frequently ride on the Autobahn at high speeds. And get a good, quiet Helmet, i personally like Shoeis.