November 13, 2008

Tinnitus from Wind Noise

There have been many accidents and mishaps known to men that have been caused by being in a fast motorcycle. Most of them are accidents due to collision with other vehicles in the road. By putting on the right gear like a helmet or padding of some sort may indeed spare your life. But there still are other factors that could hurt your body by means and ways that seem harmless but still could do a lot of damage. This even happens without you noticing it at first. I’m talking about acquiring Tinnitus. This mostly happens to motorcycle enthusiasts who take on the road with their bikes and reach the speed of almost 40mph. Tinnitus from wind noise occurs when you let your ear be exposed to extreme wind noises. Thus causes a ringing in your ears.

Many researches have been made and have had proven that once a rider reaches and passes the speed of 40mph, there is a possibility of high exposure to wind noise. This is caused due to the change of the airflow pattern around the rider. If too much wind and airflow activity is present in such situation, the rider’s helmet vibrates. Thus the vibration leads to the generation of wind noise. This situation however is not only limited to riders of motorcycles. If you happen to have been in a car or vehicle of some sort and have put down the window, the same airflow activity causes such wind noise when travelling at speed.

Many bikers and motorcycle riders have confessed about suffering from such disorder. They say that at first, you may not notice the increased wind noise since it seemed to be normal. Adverse effects only happen after some time that your ear has been exposed to such high level of sound waves. A bussing sound or a ringing in the ears usually is the first symptom that you may notice. This is what is referred to as tinnitus.

Other effects or disadvantages of having been exposed to wind noise are having difficulty in listening or hearing common sounds. Some sounds may be a little vague like that of a person speaking in a tub of water. Sometimes, echoes reverberate in your ears. All of these seems annoying and somehow causes pain and discomfort too.

Doctors profess that such disorder is irreversible. Once your hearing is affected, it cannot be restored to its original manner. However, there are ways of preventing further damage to your ears. One of the remedies would be to resort to using earplugs when driving at high speeds. This is done so as to lessen the wind noise that your ear gets exposed to. Some people may say that wearing earplugs would deprive you of hearing important warnings in the road such as sirens, horns or other traffic. Research found out that when travelling at about 45 mph, when the wind noise level exceeds 90dB, hearing such warning signals are much better with earplugs in place. So the best resort for us to avoid tinnitus and further ear ringing noises, we should wear earplugs, no matter how “un-cool” it would be.

1 comment:

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