Driving a Motorcycle — Potential Impact on Tinnitus? What Precautions to Take?

Hello,

I have severe tinnitus but I want to take motorcycle lessons.

Are there motorcycle drivers on Tinnitus Talk who are still driving despite their tinnitus?

And if you do, what precautions do you take?

Regards,

Roger

 

I ride, always with 32 dB foam earplugs fully and correctly inserted under my helmet. I take breaks every 60 minutes or so.

When I lived in the city and rode at highway speeds more, I found it louder and more taxing on my ears; now I live in the woods and do a lot of 30-55mph stuff on dirt roads. It's much quieter. Wind noise becomes your biggest problem once you're at about 60mph, and over about 80mph you're likely dealing with damaging levels of sound almost no matter what you do. Some helmets are better than others, and having a windscreen or specific fairings that direct the wind away from the rider's head can help.

If you elect to take up this stupidly hazardous hobby, you should be more concerned about turning into a paralyzed person with no jaw, than about your ears, probably. Motorcycles are obnoxiously fun, and obnoxiously dangerous. I spent a month in physical therapy this summer because I rode my shoulder into gravel at 35mph in April.



Vrrm, psssh, vrrrrrrm. This is my happy place

If you can handle lawnmowers and chainsaws and that kind of stuff, you can probably handle a gas bike. If not, then I wouldn't.

Riding motorcycles is substantially associated with shorter lifespans and more disability! There's a bathtub curve, though: people are most likely to do dumb things on bikes before the age of 30 (inexperience plus Young Buck mentality) or over the age of 60 (declining reflexes).

I've probably spent high hundreds of hours on a bike, and I can think of three things off the top of my head that almost killed me or worse.

One more piece of bike pornography: