After riding today, my ears are kind of plugged up...

[LovelyNancy]

After riding today, I noticed that my ears are kind of plugged up.
They also sound like rushing water.
Is this caused by riding?
Anyone else experience this?

 

[SDGuitarMan]

Always happened to me when riding a motorcycle or driving in a convertible. If you were riding fast enough and the wind rushing over your ears was loud enough, that can happen.

Can also happen if you were putting a lot of effort in and it was strenuous activity. Cold weather can also be a factor.

If your ears are sensitive and it happens too often you may want to consider wearing earplugs to protect your hearing...developing tinnitus due to hearing damage is no joke. I speak from experience. As I sit here typing this all I hear in my left ear is a high pitched eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

 

[LovelyNancy]

SDGuitarMan, I rode along the beach today and it was windy.
I think I’ll look into getting some earplugs.
Thanks

 

[SDGuitarMan]

SDGuitarMan, I rode along the beach today and it was windy.
I think I’ll look into getting some earplugs.
Thanks

I'd recommend looking into earplugs made for musicians. The off-the-shelf ones are usually under $30. They are better than the cheap foam ones because they don't muffle the high frequencies as much. They still muffle them but the best ones will sound closer to simply "turning the volume down" compared to the foam ones which sound like covering your ears with pillows.

They are much better than foam ones for hearing conversations, ambient sounds, and stuff you might need to hear for safety reasons.

They also make custom molded ones but those usually run between $200 and $300 and require going to an audiologist to make a custom mold that fits your ear perfectly. They sound much better and get as close to a sensation of just turning the volume down as you can get. But for bike riding, the off the shelf ones should be fine.

Being a musician with hearing damage, I have several of all of them, including the custom made ones. Gotta save the hearing I have left!!

 

[HumanPerson]

I suffer from that tinnitus in both ears.
That screeching eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee certainly is annoying.

Years as a young man not listening to the older guys on job sites has taken it's toll.
Even as simple as some earmuffs would be helpful.

 

["A"]

I've been riding motorcycles with earplugs for over 25 years, I wear earplugs while riding the subway trains on my commute.

Little foam earplugs are cheap when purchased by the box or 200+, disposable so don't have to worry about losing them.

Preservation of hearing is priceless.

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[SDGuitarMan]

For me the glorious eeeeeeeeeeeeee is the result of 35+ years playing guitar in loud bands, many years of motorcycles and convertibles, then one day about 5 months ago being accidentally too close to a very loud DJ speaker (my band had finished playing and I was trying to load out as fast as possible but I had to pass the DJ speaker several times) which actually caused my left ear pain, then a week after that an air horn going off near that ear. All of those combined = a now constant high pitched ringing 24/7.

I no longer go anywhere without earplugs. I don't always wear them but I carry them on my keychain.

 

[Vinz]

I've used some sort of earplugs while riding for months now. I've tried cotton, expandable foam, but THESE are my favorites. I wear them at the gym too. I don't get tinnitus or stuffiness from riding, I really hate the wind blowing in my ears - and they protect against bugs too. But any kind of earplug should suffice.

 

[JerryB]

What?

 

[Hoggdoc]

SDGuitarMan, I rode along the beach today and it was windy.
I think I’ll look into getting some earplugs.
Thanks

I recommend ear plugs your hearing is a thing you don't want to mess with.

 

[Snoop]

I had a little scare many years ago after using some loud woodworking tools. I don’t mess around anymore. Now, even when I cut the grass (push mower) I wear noise cancelling headphones.

Nancy, did the sensation of ear fullness/being plugged, and the rushing water noise go away? If it has persisted, I would recommend seeing your doctor or a good ENT. Persistence of those symptoms might suggest a middle or inner ear problem.

 

[JerryB]

I have had hearing aids for years......nice to bump them up when watching TV or down when wife wants to talk.

 

[Calsun]

I always have a supply of cotton from medicine bottles that I use in my ears. I keep them in the glove box, my riding eyeglasses case, and in my riding jacket pocket.

 

[red]

Ear plugs (at least) are recommended against noise and wind. The cheap foam ear plugs are better than nothing, but you have to roll them down into very skinny sticks before you insert them. Takes practice. As they warm up, they will expand to fill the ear canal nicely. When I worked on the flight line (back when the jet engines shrieked instead of roared), I used both ear plugs and shooter's ear cups for hearing protection. Today I do have good hearing, but a still touch of ringing (tinnitus) in the quiet times.

One rock-band member I know will use a cigarette filter if nothing else, claiming that he can always bum a cigarette. He cuts the filter off, peels the paper, then cuts the filter into two equal lengths, and Shazam! He has new earplugs! Any port in a storm . . .