Thu May 29 21:13:09 1997 - Message No. 951
From: "Thomas A. Engelhardt"

Subject: Wind screen / Wind noise / Hearing problems


Hi guys,

I have previously complained about the insufficent improvement of wind
noise by higher windscreens like the givi or the five stars if the driver
is 6feet 5', as I am.
Now I have mounted the original windscreen back on my @ again, after I have
shortened it by approx. 8cm.
The effect is very positive. The turbulent airstream caused by the
windsreen edge mainly passes me beyond the helmet now.
This reduces the noise in the helmet very much since I had the experience
that the turbulent airstream causes some especially tiring noise.
Next thing is to buy a helmet that is supposed to be quieter than my SHOEI
RF200. Now, this not difficult since the RF200 is supposed to be relatively
loud as all the SHOEIs are.
I will go for the Schuberth SunRacer which showed good results on tests
concerning noise and neck forces.
The new Baehr silencer is the quietest helmet on the market but it won't
fit on my "lying-egg-shaped" head, even in size XXL.

You might wonder why I do all these efforts to improve the noise
performance.
Last year in Sept. I suddenly suffered from a hearing defect after a rel.
short but fast @ ride on the motorway.
By that time I wore the new SHOEI Duotec helmet, which is very comfortable
but pretty loud, as well.
The yellow ear plugs that I continously wore on all rides had not been
sufficent.
What happened was a sudden breakdown of the metabolism in the inner ear
(Hoersturz), usually caused by stress and/or noise exposition.
The effect was that the next day I could not hear low freq. on my right ear
anymore.
In the time between this event and now I passed various medical treatments.
Fortunately the hearing defect went away very soon due to the fast medical
treatment.
What remained is a continous noise on my ears (Tinitus), fortunately not
too loud, but it's volume increases after expositions to noise.
Now I have the choice either to quit riding bikes or to try to decrease the
accoustical stress for my ears as much as possible.
I will try to go for the second alternative and I hope this is no mistake.

Does anybody else had any similar experiences concerning riding and
ear/hearing problems?
I would be very much interested in this. 

Greetings

Thomas


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