Hearing Impaired & Scooters

[davenowherejones]

I am hearing impaired. I have been since a bad BOAC flight back in 1962 on a four engine propeller plane from the UK to Canada.

I have ridden all sorts of motorcycles so far. I think the automatic scooters have been the best for my hearing impairment.

I have been in the wrong gear half the time on regular motorcycles. I wear full face helmets and have been missing the audible clues that the revs were too high or too low. A tach helps but things were wrong too much of the time.

I destroyed a Ford Ranger with no tach because I was in the wrong gear on the highway. My Dodge Dakota suffered 50 km at 100 kmph in 2nd on an automatic because I never heard the engine.

The CVT does its thing without me messing it up. If I get something with a DCT, I will leave it in auto all the time.

I tried riding with my hearing aids one day. I painfully got the helmet on by mistake. I had to pry the helmet up and let the very, very expensive hearing aids fall on the ground. I never want to do that again.

So does anyone have any intelligent suggestions on being hearing impaired and riding a scooter?

ps My Forza has over 40,000 km on it. I checked the rear brake pads today, 6300 km on this set, they still look good. The last set I wore down to the metal. They were probably making a bad noise but I never heard it. I did 20 km on wet gravel roads today. No problems that I heard.

[fish]

I am hearing impaired. I have been since a bad BOAC flight back in 1962 on a four engine propeller plane from the UK to Canada.

I have ridden all sorts of motorcycles so far. I think the automatic scooters have been the best for my hearing impairment.

I have been in the wrong gear half the time on regular motorcycles. I wear full face helmets and have been missing the audible clues that the revs were too high or too low. A tach helps but things were wrong too much of the time.

I destroyed a Ford Ranger with no tach because I was in the wrong gear on the highway. My Dodge Dakota suffered 50 km at 100 kmph in 2nd on an automatic because I never heard the engine.

The CVT does its thing without me messing it up. If I get something with a DCT, I will leave it in auto all the time.

I tried riding with my hearing aids one day. I painfully got the helmet on by mistake. I had to pry the helmet up and let the very, very expensive hearing aids fall on the ground. I never want to do that again.

So does anyone have any intelligent suggestions on being hearing impaired and riding a scooter?

ps My Forza has over 40,000 km on it. I checked the rear brake pads today, 6300 km on this set, they still look good. The last set I wore down to the metal. They were probably making a bad noise but I never heard it. I did 20 km on wet gravel roads today. No problems that I heard.

We who wear ear plugs on our maxis face some of the same issues as a naturally hearing impaired rider.
You already know you have to be extra alert to what is going on around you - being very attentive to the rear view mirrors when on multi lane roads. Don't Zone-Out on your surroundings. Stay focused - if your attention is drifting - pull over and take a break.
Riding at speed while wearing any kind of helmet is dangerous to your hearing - it won't take long to take a toll on your hearing if you do not. If you think your hearing is not being damaged - you will certainly notice the damage done in later years. Most Air Force personnel have hearing issues now.
Fish

[davenowherejones]

I have tried all sorts of ear plugs while riding a motorcycle. I find I am to disconnected from things with the plugs.

I know that the motorcycles are damaging my hearing even further but I feel unsafe being too cut off.

[fish]

I have tried all sorts of ear plugs while riding a motorcycle. I find I am to disconnected from things with the plugs.

I know that the motorcycles are damaging my hearing even further but I feel unsafe being too cut off.

I don't use ear plugs at city street speeds for same reason.
But on the highways with my Burgman I use them every time.
Hearing is reduced at those speeds already...so I protect myself.
Family have commented on my hearing loss this past year.
Should have used plugs sooner.
Fish

[tjlayden]

I wear hearing aids also.
I wear a full face helmet. When I put it on a pull the straps out pretty hard to get past my ears that have the behind the ear aids in place.
Taking off I again pull the straps pretty hard.
In both cases I am trying to maximize the helmet opening.

[davenowherejones]

I wear hearing aids also.
I wear a full face helmet. When I put it on a pull the straps out pretty hard to get past my ears that have the behind the ear aids in place.
Taking off I again pull the straps pretty hard.
In both cases I am trying to maximize the helmet opening.

My Icon Variant helmet is very tight and difficult to get on normally. Pulling the straps makes very little difference.

I wear In-the-Ear hearing aids that fill up my outer ear quite a bit. They are definitely not the invisible kind. I use this style because my ear canal makes too much wax trying to reject the hearing aids. I have them shaped to lock in because of my many varied violent activities.

I would like an ear plug to get rid of the wind noise but leave every thing else audible. I have tried various soft foam plugs and soft putty/silicone plugs.

I would like to try a set of custom made plugs but they are fairly expensive. They would also have some of the same problems as my hearing aids.

At my age, 57, I don't want to hear most of the people who try to talk to me anyway. Too many assholes, you know. I work with a guy who has Christian Brainwashing Talk Shows on his cell speaker phone all day long. Nasty stuff. And the girls are too young or too old or too ugly.

I am ill today from McDonalds food poisoning. I just want to ride my FORZA!!!

[iceman]

Some hearing loss is gained riding at 30mph with poor fitting helmets due to high pitch squeel (but that is just a small part of the hearing band over prolonged periods of time - takes less than a few minutes to lose part of your hearing without protection at 100mph+!) < official figures, not mine and covered in depth on the web from official reports.
I wear ear plugs during commuting and it helps cut some of the noise - but I can still hear everything I need to in terms of sirens, horns, engines, etc, it just cuts 20-25db's of excess squeal and makes the PCX a bit quiter

[you you]

EH, WHAT??

[JetPilot]

Some hearing loss is gained riding at 30mph with poor fitting helmets due to high pitch squeel (but that is just a small part of the hearing band over prolonged periods of time - takes less than a few minutes to lose part of your hearing without protection at 100mph+!) < official figures, not mine and covered in depth on the web from official reports.
I wear ear plugs during commuting and it helps cut some of the noise - but I can still hear everything I need to in terms of sirens, horns, engines, etc, it just cuts 20-25db's of excess squeal and makes the PCX a bit quiter

Hi Iceman,

With a PCX, you do not have to worry about riding more than 30 MPH anyways

Mike

[you you]

Some hearing loss is gained riding at 30mph with poor fitting helmets due to high pitch squeel (but that is just a small part of the hearing band over prolonged periods of time - takes less than a few minutes to lose part of your hearing without protection at 100mph+!) < official figures, not mine and covered in depth on the web from official reports.
I wear ear plugs during commuting and it helps cut some of the noise - but I can still hear everything I need to in terms of sirens, horns, engines, etc, it just cuts 20-25db's of excess squeal and makes the PCX a bit quiter

Hi Iceman,

With a PCX, you do not have to worry about riding more than 30 MPH anyways

Mike

Unless he gets on his pedal bike

[iceman]

It's not just about high speed or noise of the bike (exhaust, engine or other low freq sounds in town), and some PCX's are quieter than others - my PCX has always been noisier than others I see around town, and wearing ear plugs makes it more enjoyable a ride without cutting out needed sounds.

Leaving the usual p*** taking aside (there's always those that have to do that) hearing loss at town or 60mph highway/A-road riding is due to certain sounds for prolonged periods such as high pitch squeal from poor fitting helmets of if the top air vents are left open - it does not have to sound that loud to you either as your ears adjust. It's also not the buffeting or normal wind noise that's the problem in short duration, it's the higher pitch squeal that sounds low level but is actually much louder to your ear. I can't be bothered to find the science and government pages stating even 40mph is a problem if you ride frequently (and if you care about your hearing into old age) but say....
http://www.hearingtestlabs.com/motorcycle.htm
http://www.motorcycle.com/features/moto ... -loss.html
Those that ride near full throttle on journeys, those that do a lot of town riding every day, those that have music playing on top of everything else, it all takes it's toll. Town riding for 3hr's a day such as deliveries risk permanent loss of certain hearing bands due to combined noise levels.
Don't care, want to take the p - good on you, enjoy your riding. Me, I like music and want to keep my hearing as good as I can for life.

[JetPilot]

It's not just about high speed or noise of the bike (exhaust, engine or other low freq sounds in town), and some PCX's are quieter than others - my PCX has always been noisier than others I see around town, and wearing ear plugs makes it more enjoyable a ride without cutting out needed sounds.

Me, I like music and want to keep my hearing as good as I can for life.

Hi Iceman,

You misunderstood me... I totally agree that riding noise is bad, which is exactly why I wear earplugs when riding on the highway. You actually forgot one of the worst factors: Noise over time fatigues you, and your reactions and performance will be worse after 30 minutes of it, and much worse after an hour. The AirForce did studies on this for young pilots flying fighter jets, where they fly hours, then face combat and must have top performance.... This is important for any human, even tough, young, best of the best in performance humans performance goes down due to noise fatigue.

That being said, my Honda SH150i is quiet enough, and speeds around town low enough, that I do not need or wear earplugs on those rides. Your hearing must be a heck of a lot better than mine if the PCX150 around town bothers you. You did not take off the muffler did you

That is a whole seperate issue, people that repalce the mufflers on thier bikes with loud ones because they like " LOUD " motorcycles, dumbest, stupidest thing ever.... All my bikes have stock exhaust. One of the things I like about the FORZA is how very quiet it is...

Mike

[davenowherejones]

Lately I have had a hard time hearing my Forza. The snow and cold rain have kept it in the shed.

A chance of showers today so there is a chance it might not rain but only 4 degrees C right now.

I am going back to bed and hiding under the covers.

[davenowherejones]

Later in that same day I rode from Hope up to Boston Bar for a sausage roll. The Fraser canyon was good but Boston Bar had little piles of snow in the parking lot. It was a nice ride.

[Mel46]

I lost part of my hearing from being around jet engines daily while in the military. It never comes back. When I ride I don't wear earplugs most of the time because I am in town and riding at low speeds. I have the original muffler on my pcx. However, I have found lately that the lower pitched sounds are starting to bother me. These include semi trucks, pickup trucks with the baffles out of the mufflers, buses, and garbage trucks. I have to think that these sounds are not much different than the base music turned up high for those who like their music loud.
First the high pitches go, followed by the lower pitches. Young people do not realize how easy it is to permanently lose your hearing.
I wear a 3/4 helmet most of the time, and I found one that has a unique chin connector. AFX makes it (it is the FX-50 in bright yellow). Instead of you adjusting the strap and then having a single click on the strap, it has "teeth" on the connector so that you can adjust the tightness after you put on the helmet by "clicking" it through each point until it is as tight as you want it. There is a release strap for taking it off, so it isn't a chore to take it off....but it holds quite securely during an accident. It would probably be a good helmet for those with hearing aids because you do the tightening after it is on....though I would suggest getting a close fitting one in the first place so that it wouldn't be too loose.

[dougfreeze]

There's some good info here. Thank you all.
I'm a piano tuner here in Los Angeles and definitely notice the ringing in my ears when I get off my little Scarlet.
I have good ear plugs in my tool bag for tuning extra LOUD pianos. Those plugs are going in my scooter and I'll be placing the cheap foam plugs in my tool bag tomorrow! My hearing is too important to me.

[JetPilot]

There's some good info here. Thank you all.
I'm a piano tuner here in Los Angeles and definitely notice the ringing in my ears when I get off my little Scarlet.
I have good ear plugs in my tool bag for tuning extra LOUD pianos. Those plugs are going in my scooter and I'll be placing the cheap foam plugs in my tool bag tomorrow! My hearing is too important to me.

Piano Tuner ???? I did not even know that profession existed anymore, that profession seems almost as obsolete as Vacuum Tube tester / replacer... Pianos are so outdated, the same instrument can now be built electronically better and more capable in every way, and never looses its tune. How often do you find work ? Do you find business getting less every year ?

I guess a Forza would be perfect for getting from job to job and having fun doing it !

Mike

[easyrider]

I use earphones while riding and listen to music mostly all the time riding. It actually makes me more attentive to whats around me all the time. I find myself in a more defensive mode knowing I am somewhat impaired to traffic sounds .Despite all I still can hear horns and emergency sirens.

[dougfreeze]

Piano Tuner ???? I did not even know that profession existed anymore, that profession seems almost as obsolete as Vacuum Tube tester / replacer... Pianos are so outdated, the same instrument can now be built electronically better and more capable in every way, and never looses its tune. How often do you find work ? Do you find business getting less every year ?

I guess a Forza would be perfect for getting from job to job and having fun doing it !

Mike

I tune about 90 pianos a month. They're not going anywhere, trust me.
There's nothing that can replace the real thing when it comes to musical instruments.
http://MasterTuner.com/calendar

[davenowherejones]

Sometimes, very rarely, my Forza seems to be all in tune. There almost always seems to be something that doesn't quite sound right.

And being hearing impaired I can never tell what the sound is or where it is coming from?

I also have that problem with people. I know something is wrong but never quite sure what it is?