RIDEWELL Protect your hearing with ear plugs By Marven Ewen #150506
I JUST RETURNED from a ride to Van- couver, B.C., to visit family. Riding across the prairies is fatiguing due to the long stretches of straight level road
and the frequency of high winds. While riding through Saskatchewan, the wind turbulence caused the right upper windshield strut on my R 1200 RT to break. The windscreen imme- diately collapsed onto the bike and the wind noise increased dramati- cally. Fortunately, a stop at Home Depot provided me with a quick repair solution. It did, however, make me glad that I always wear ear plugs when I ride. I often come across motorcyclists
that don’t wear ear plugs. Not just the ignorant ones riding in t-shirts, shorts and flip flops, but experienced riders that are otherwise well-prepared for the ride. When I ask them why they don’t use earplugs, they generally seem unaware that wind noise on a motorcycle is a serious problem. Some think that because they ride a quiet bike such as a BMW, they don’t
need hearing protection. It is the wind noise, not the exhaust note, that is damag- ing to hearing once you are at highway speed. The ear is an amazing organ. Sound
waves enter through the ear canal and impact the eardrum. This is then amplified by three small bones in the middle ear to the cochlea in the inner ear. This fluid-filled structure is lined with hair cells that detect the vibration of the sound waves and then transfer this information via nerve impulses to the brain. The brain then interprets the messages it is receiving. The frequency of the sound waves in cycles per second deter- mines pitch, whereas the size of the waves determines sound pressure or volume. Unfortunately, the cochlea is a very fragile, and the sensory hair cells are prone to irre- versible damage from high sound pressure. The damage that will result is related to
time of exposure and level of noise. Sound pressure is measured on a logarithmic scale in units of decibels or dBs. OSHA has deter- mined that constant exposure to noise over 90 dBs for eight hours or more results in some degree of irreversible hearing loss. For every 5 dB increase in sound volume, safe exposure time decreases by half. So for example, at 95 dB the time threshold would be four hours, and at 100dB it would be two
hours. It is important to note that even though you may not feel severe pain from the noise until it reaches a level of 140dB, you are getting irreversible damage if safe sound pressure/time intervals are exceeded. Noise levels from wind on a motorcycle
have been measured to vary between 90 dB in the city 110 dB or more at high speed. Highway riding results in sustained wind noise levels greater than 100 dB. Do you think your top of the line, super expensive helmet is going to attenuate this noise? Well, sorry to disappoint—even though your helmet will provide great crash protec- tion for your head and face, it does not pro- tect against wind noise at all. In fact, helmets often have a low frequency resonance effect that contributes to the noise. Now you may be thinking none of this
applies to you because you have a great aftermarket windscreen. Well, the fact is, this has been studied, and windscreens pro- vide only modest improvement in noise pressure. It may make your ride less fatigu- ing due to less turbulence and a perceived reduction in noise, but it doesn’t signifi- cantly change the risk of hearing damage. Remember, a small change in dB levels results in a change in perception of noise, even though you may still be in a high dan- ger range.
Simple foam ear plugs offer significant hearing protection. 80
After compressing the ear plug, pull up and back on your ear and push the plug down and forward into your ear canal.
BMW OWNERS NEWS October 2015
skills
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