My doctor told me the only cure for my tinnitus is to get back on the bike.

 

Speaking of radio, if I sit in your garage and turn up the radio up to full blast it's painful but on the bike full blast isn't so bad. I have to think that the level of noise is the same or greater, that can't be good. With earplugs I can still hear the stereo and it's actually better because it takes out all the other noises.

 

Spoke to an ENT doctor today.

She said tinnitus wouldn't be caused after a weekend of riding and that the ringing I'm experiencing is from something else. She explained tinnitus is developed over a duration of time and developed later on down the road. I've only been on really two long road trips and the ringing started only after the second.

The doctor also took a look inside my ears at my eardrums. No damage there as well.

The doctor thinks the wind could have messed something up with my pressure/

Even night after I yawned my ear popped a bit.

How even now as the day progresses the ringing is almost gone. I'm always riding with earplugs for now on!

 

I hate to tell you but if you really have tinnitus you will probably never get rid of it. Your bike may have little to do with it. Tinnitus is not a problem that only plagues motorcycle riders. It's pretty common and doctors know very little about it though most of them will hand you a line of bullshet instead of saying they don't know. I developed it when I was working out of town about six years ago and hadn't ridden in probably a year or longer. It's aggrevating but I will never not ride for longer than a few days again for any reason. You can adjust to it because you have to. If I didn't develop it years ago from the obscenely loud rock concerts I went to then a motorcyle sure didn't do it. When riding the decibel level from the pipes is probably negligable at the ears. I wear ear plugs but it's because of the wind.

 

If you got the sensitivity too, you may be getting the beginnings of hyperacusis, a painful condition that is also incurable. I got it from 20 years of playing in hard rock bands, and it ended my stage career immediately. Do not take any chances with that. I can only ride now with quiet pipes and ear plugs. I use the Mack's silicone ones available at Walmart and drug stores. Push them in about a half inch and they'll form to your ear canal, and are fairly comfortable.

Yes, some people can continue being around noise, and just get gradual hearing loss or mild tinnitus, but others can get hyperacusis, where the volume of the world goes to 10. I'm not trying to scare you, but take it seriously. I wear plugs AND shooter's muffs for mowing grass or being around power tools, or anything noisy. I have to, or the tinnitus & hyperacusis get much worse.

Go to hyperacusis.com to learn more. It's a fairly rare condition, and when I got it 20 yrs ago, many doctors and ent's didn't even know of it. I only accidentally figured out what it was when I talked to a female bass player for a punk rock band who opened up for Duran Duran, and got it. She turned me on to the hyperacusis network, before there was a website, and that's how I learned more. Some people can get it from a single loud event, and others, from continual exposure. The website, and its founder, Dan Malcore, are very helpful with hints and tips, and they have a newsletter you can subscribe to.

Best of luck to you.

JT

 

I once had benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) or ear rocks. It is an inner ear problem that caused severe vertigo. Kind of scary riding with vertigo so it kept me off the bike for awhile.

 

http://www.insectsingers.com/100th_m...s_filtered.mp3

turn your volume to 1/4 and click above... this is my lifes soundtrack now due to my acoustic neuroma.