If you dont ride a motorbike then this is probably not of use to you other than explain how I unwittingly upped my T volume
I had my first decent 4 hour bike ride since I developed T in August 2021
I tried all sorts of earplugs to drop the recorded 105 decibels of wind and engine noise to less than 85 decibels so as not to incur more hearing loss
After trying a huge selection of earplugs ,I found that 3M earsoft FX were the best .When you roll them like plasticine they retain their skinny shape for a few seconds to let you place them into the ear canal before they expand in your ear thus giving a perfect fit
They effectively cut out all wind and engine noise and were brilliant .( No chance of hearing damage with these beauties)
I now thought that I could confidently ride to my hearts content without worrying about incurring hearing damage
Trouble was after 4 hours of riding (this is my theory only !!!!) ,the T went biserk
I think that my brain worked out that there was no external noise being received by it and that it was not picking up sound frquencies that it was used to picking up ,so on its own accord it very considerately introduced more noise ,more freqencies and upped the T volume to compensate for the super effectiveness of the earplugs in blocking all of these external noises to it and therefore kindly helping me out in the process .AARRGGGG!!!!
I think that after a few weeks that the T is possibly slowly ,albeit slowly ,starting to settle down from being really horrible to horrible
The moral of the sorry is that if you ride a bike with tinnitus use earplugs that filter engine and wind noise but still let you hear people speaking ,sirens etc as opposed to blocking all noises and perplexing the brain so that it creates a neural symphony orchestra
I need to state again that this is my theory only and might in fact be a lot of rubbish that i am talking about
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Thanks HappyrosieIf we are correct ,I don't think that the principal of the brain upping neural static and T volumes to compensate for certain frequencies of external sounds that we have heard since birth but now no longer hear,(even if for a short duration because of earplugs) is fully understood
The big question is how long do fequencies of certain sounds have to denied to the brain so that it feels that it has to compensate for those lost frequencies by upping the T ?
And each of us is different, so it could be that one reading is right for you and another right for me. Saying that, there’s quite a bit of info in the British Tinnitus Association website about volume control of the device you might use - have a read.
You mean the neural activity and clatter increasing when the earplugs are too effective and block out all external noise The brain then says " what's going on here!!" and compensates by turning the T volume knob up?
Yes. That's the one. My T went from mild to troublesome two years ago - after a decade of fairly mild T . So it took my brain ten years to cotton on and crank up the volume. It's probably different for everyone.
That is interesting I bought Alpine Moto Pro earplugs which were okay as they filtered out wind and engine noise to a degree.I misguidedly thought I can do better than this.On the Bennetts UK sitewhich reviewed earplugs they said 3M Earsoft FX were the best at blocking noise. They were brilliantly efficient but my brain didn't like the absence of noise and upped the T volume accordingly to compensate for all the sound frequencies that it was being denied
When my T settles down if ever I shall try Earpeace filtered plugs SNR26
You still need to wear earplugs to prevent hearing damage but at the same time don't cut out all noise and upset Mr T
I meant to say - sorry I wasn’t explicit enough - there’s info on the website about ensuring you can still hear the T above whatever you are using. In your case muffled motorbike noise.
Err Peter. I’ve been misleading you slightly. Entirely my fault. I was on holiday and not concentrating
There is no particular area of the website saying this, that I can find once I had a good search around. Within this community of HU however its often been mentioned over the past few years that I’ve been here: whatever you are using to “block out” the sounds, you have to be able to hear your T above it otherwise your brain will not learn.
I’ve a hope that someone on this community will step up and confirm what I’ve just said. I don’t use blocking mechanisms myself
There is just something about a bike and I miss mine sat in the garage.
I see them filter in traffic while I sit there trying not to let it get me down.
I keep hoping that maybe a different ear plug. The issue is, of course, taking sensory away makes the brain go, oh look at this T. I’ve tried so many different ear plugs. The problem I have is I now rely on my Bluetooth hearing aides to play sounds and ‘distract’ the brain from the ‘T’. I cannot wear them under a helmet and I’m sort of lost.
I’ve a 1100 Honda sat in the garage and now I don’t like going in there to get frozen peas out of the freezer!
(Freezer also in the garage or that would be weird!)
Here is hoping that someone will develop a useful biker’s T ear plug, I’d buy it in a flash.
I think I got my T from riding my motorcycle without ear plugs for years.I have been using the soft pliable ones that roll up and block all noise out for a couple of years now. I find them to be great and not really affected my T to any great level. I only wished I would have used them earlier. It’s sad that we have it through riding.
Just saying... I have had three short deviations from my usual tinnitus and the new 't' was like an actual motorbike revving up. I'm posting this just to add to the vagaries of experiencing tinnitus. I hoped this new 't' wouldn't override my usual type and it hasn't so far. We all have unique experiences and sometimes it just isn't possible to get an answer to why these things happen at all. Its unfathomable!!
Apart from what I’ve said already, DR, have a look at surreyccfan’s response to the recent post about sleeplessness and especially the volume control part.
I used to ride bikes and used the noise breaker ear plug from emtec which is custom moulded. Friend of mine worked in noisy factory and their staff had them, includes a filter so you can still hear things.
I don't know enough about the science though wonder if the excessive vibrations on the inner ear combined with blocking all sound with foam plugs is a bad one. My best bike was an fjr1300 which interestingly had such a great screen I often didn't wear any plugs at all, it really was that quiet at speed !! Failing try not to let tinnitus get in the way of things you enjoy, for me wind noise was part of the biking experience as it is on top of a hill..
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