Tinnitus After Motorcycle Training

[Caroline Harvey]

I've been riding my back for quite a few months but today I had a training day for my upcoming test. I had to wear an over the ear radio. It was so shushy and crackly all day. I have raging tinnitus now. Has anyone else had this from wearing the training headset? Never have a problem when I use my normal Bluetooth radio but this over the ear one from the instructor was awful. And I have to wear it for my test.
Any help gratefully received. I have 3 days next week of wearing the radio.

 

[Bertman]

Maybe ask them if they can use your bluetooth instead for medical reasons. I don't see how they could really say no. Or maybe find some earplugs that will help reduce the volume while you can still hear them. Either way I would talk to them first about it and let them know your problem.

 

[Dawn Whinetaker]

In-ear headphones don't make my tinnitus worse, but over-ear headphones absolutely do. I think it may have to do with the pressure of the headphones pressing against my ears/ skull area and tensing up the muscles further- but it absolutely has an impact on me. I'd also ask if they could switch their connection to in-ear headphones and explain the reasoning behind it.

 

[linearb]

I would never ride a motorcycle without in-ear plugs in. My bike is not very powerful, but it still revs to over 110 dB. That's just too loud for anyone to handle safely without hearing protection, let alone someone with tinnitus.

 

[Rogi Cetpla]

I would never ride a motorcycle without in-ear plugs in. My bike is not very powerful, but it still revs to over 110 dB. That's just too loud for anyone to handle safely without hearing protection, let alone someone with tinnitus.

Hi @linearb,

I just came across this thread and see that you mention having a motorcycle... I also have one but have stopped ridding it since my tinnitus flared up.

I wondered if you still ride yours with earplugs on?

 

[linearb]

Hi @linearb,
I wondered if you still ride yours with earplugs on?

Yep, but my bike is a 411cc dual sport, it's only ~1o7db at the redline and ~78-88db at road speeds. So, wind noise becomes the biggest risk, and because it's a 400cc bike that I mostly ride on twisty dirt roads with tree cover, that doesn't affect me too much, and I tend to take breaks both for my ears and to keep my perception sharp, because I do some amount of riding places with almost no traffic and no cell coverage, hence if I ended up pinned under a bike I might bleed out before anyone found me...

So, there is a tremendous difference to my ears, between the way I ride, and just grabbing a cruiser and jumping on the highway at 80mph for 3 hours straight.

 

[Rogi Cetpla]

Yep, but my bike is a 411cc dual sport, it's only ~107db at the redline and ~78-88db at road speeds. So, wind noise becomes the biggest risk, and because it's a 400cc bike that I mostly ride on twisty dirt roads with tree cover, that doesn't affect me too much, and I tend to take breaks both for my ears and to keep my perception sharp, because I do some amount of riding places with almost no traffic and no cell coverage, hence if I ended up pinned under a bike I might bleed out before anyone found me...

So, there is a tremendous difference to my ears, between the way I ride, and just grabbing a cruiser and jumping on the highway at 80mph for 3 hours straight.

Thanks for the insight.