Fast Ebike - Loud Wind In the Ear - Hearing Loss?

T

The duke

Active Member
When I was analog biking, by periods of high speed (above 22mph) were short. But with an ebike, I live at those speeds. 22mph wind in the ears is annoying, and when I get hit with a headwind, the noise give me a headache.

I'm wondering if those winds, probably a cumulative of 28-30mph will cause long term hearing loss? How does anyone here deal with it? I dont want to lose awareness that earplugs might cause. Any suggestions?
 
There are studies and articles on cycling hearing damage. I use hearing protection while riding my MC. I don't sustain high speeds on the ebike for it to be an issue.

amp – CyclingTips

cyclingtips.com cyclingtips.com

I've never used these, but some swear by them.

Cat-Ears.com | Cat-Ears, LLC | United States

Cat-Ears is the leading manufacturer of aero-acoustically designed passive wind noise reduction products for serious cyclists. Tested and recommended by respected publications and professionals, Cat-Ears / AirStreamz are 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed and Made in the USA.
www.cat-ears.com www.cat-ears.com
 
My Fox Rampage helmet covers my ears well enough the wind can't get to them.
I do wear earplugs some to avoid the excessive noise ambulances & police cars make. I can still hear the wind noise of a car coming up behind me. My hearing was flat up to 14 khz in 2008, pretty unusual for a 58 year old male. I've used ear plugs in high noise situations. ever since the Army gave them to me at summer camp 1969. Breaking all the high frequency hairs in your ear doesn't hurt. Most US males do that by age 12. Listening to and creating music is a major hobby of mine, and I didn't want to give up the high frequency portion just because I use power tools or worked in a factory. 14 khz to 20 khz was ruined by the Army in 1969 even with ear plugs.
 
Though it doesn't bother my own ears, I think it's silly to try and convince somebody else they shouldn't be having problems. If riding isn't comfortable for your ears, do something about it. Your hearing is nothing to be messing with. There's a better than average chance there will be no "do over" if you run into issues.
 
The duke said:
Thanks for the info guys! Anyone here feel their biking is causing hearing loss?
Click to expand...
Several times while riding my e-bike I've gotten a loud noise warning from my Apple Watch. (That's the decibel meter on the newest iOS.) I should probably wear hearing protection like I do when riding my motorcycle but I'm too afraid of not hearing the cars coming up or shouted warnings from other riders. It's probably not doing my hearing any good. I notice it more on windy days when I'm going fast.
 
I have a bit of tinnitus in my right ear which I find is aggravated by the wind noise at speeds around 30km/h. Inspired by the Cat Ears solution, I simply took strips of fleece fabric and wrapped it a few times around my helmet straps in front of my ears. It forms a bit of a wind break that significantly cuts the wind noise. It was a bit of an experiment that worked far better than expected. I don't generally wear earbuds when riding, but you can hear much better at lower volumes.
 
Wind noise was borderline painful for me above 24mph. I got the windblox and they cut the noise by over half. They made a big difference in being able to hear approaching cars, too. Just be carful about getting them wet, because they can mildew if they don't dry quickly. They're sort of like sponges, so they'll retain moisture overnight.
 
Interesting info...I can‘t wear my hearing aids when riding because 1) fear of them being blown off 2)the accentuated wind noise. In general I don’t find the noise of the wind when riding bothersome except on windy days but only on down hill runs do I exceed my Class 1 20mph and then the wind is part of the thrill
 
michael mitchell said:
Wind noise was borderline painful for me above 24mph. I got the windblox and they cut the noise by over half. They made a big difference in being able to hear approaching cars, too. Just be carful about getting them wet, because they can mildew if they don't dry quickly. They're sort of like sponges, so they'll retain moisture overnight.
Click to expand...
Does sweat count towards 'getting them wet'? Figure I'll do that every ride. How do you clean them?
 
michael mitchell said:
Wind noise was borderline painful for me above 24mph. I got the windblox and they cut the noise by over half. They made a big difference in being able to hear approaching cars, too. Just be carful about getting them wet, because they can mildew if they don't dry quickly. They're sort of like sponges, so they'll retain moisture overnight.
Click to expand...
I'll bet it's causing damage well before it gets painful. 😳😳😳
 
Actually had never considered this aspect. Seems that there aren’t a lot of products out there.
May mostly likely be just a gimmick .

I know of zero riders having this issues. If people would have had this issues, there wouldn’t be any cycling races, Tour de France etc.
And they ride with LOTS of noise around , at 60-70mph downhill !!

A Total scam this idea ...
 
The duke said:
Does sweat count towards 'getting them wet'? Figure I'll do that every ride. How do you clean them?
Click to expand...

I've worked up a sweat while wearing them. I've also ridden in the rain with them. Neither of those were an issue. However, I forgot to remove them before I washed my entire helmet, and they got soaked. That's when I ran into a problem the next morning.

If you clean them with a wet rag or paper towel, the inner sponge material won't be soaked through and you'll be fine.
 
Ebiker01 said:
Actually had never considered this aspect. Seems that there aren’t a lot of products out there.
May mostly likely be just a gimmick .

I know of zero riders having this issues. If people would have had this issues, there wouldn’t be any cycling races, Tour de France etc.
And they ride with LOTS of noise around , at 60-70mph downhill !!

A Total scam this idea ...
Click to expand...

I got them strictly for comfort during my commute. The difference in wind noise when I got a class 3 bike was annoying because I couldn't hear cars around me. And these things are relatively cheap, so I figured it was worth the gamble. They're of zero use unless you're going above 20pmh regularly.

TDF riders don't go 70mph, but I agree that there probably isn't a medical need for devices like these.
 
The wind noise above about 25kph definitely bothers me and aggravates my tinnitus. It's not something I've ever noticed riding traditional bikes, simply because the speeds are lower than 25kph almost always. I've found that earplugs sold for musicians work quite well in cutting down the noise but not completely blocking out sound.
These are the ones I got. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32920060484.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.27424c4dutMbyV Bonus is they also work great at the kids birthday parties!

I've also found when the weather cools off that pulling the hood of my jacket over my helmet almost completely eliminates the wind noise but still allows perfect hearing. I've been trying to find a helmet for summer that keeps wind away from my ears in a similar way and doesn't look terrible. I'm not willing to use "cat ears" and my home-brew version of windblox did nothing, so I'm not convinced the commercial version would be much better.
 
michael mitchell said:
I got them strictly for comfort during my commute. The difference in wind noise when I got a class 3 bike was annoying because I couldn't hear cars around me. And these things are relatively cheap, so I figured it was worth the gamble. They're of zero use unless you're going above 20pmh regularly.

TDF riders don't go 70mph, but I agree that there probably isn't a medical need for devices like these.
Click to expand...

They can go 70mph+in some stages.
mpora.com

Tour de France Top Speed? Riders hit a Huge 130kph / 81mph on Stage Nine of Le Tour...

So the Tour de France top speed is higher than the speed limit on the motorway...
mpora.com mpora.com
 
I've experienced the same issue with wind noise on my ebike. Consider aero helmets or wind-resistant gear.
 
This is very concerning to me. I do notice that my ears feel raw with a lot of wind exposure :(

Really amps up the tinnitus too.

Haven't found an effective fix for it yet. Thinking about ear muffs, or a cycling cap with ear covers.
 
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