Some are cylindrical, some tapered on one end. I like the tapered ones. Roll one between your thumb and forefinger and insert.......hold there for a few seconds while the foam expands. Then add your helmet.....whatever your choice is. You can use these plugs many times over, assuming of course they are not stiffining with age. I keep a bag of these things on the bike........they are easy to lose.....and I give them away to those who forget or don't know how GREAT it is.
Also, as the man said.....have your blood pressure checked.

 

Holy crap. This is more common than I expected.

I'm 48 yrs old, and in pretty decent shape...but I did once have a high blood pressure problem. I've sinse lost a few pounds and it's been in check the past 10 yrs.

I'll call my doctor today and start giving this a better look.

 

Yep, me too.

I'm 49 and have no real health problems, so I'm absolutely sure that wind noise has caused my tinnitus. I have ringing 24-7, but really only notice when it's quiet, like at night. I ride with foam plugs now, at least when I'm on the freeway.

 

Anthony8858,

I have had the same problem for the past 10 years...working around jets the last 27 years has really takin' a toll on the hearing.

I've been to many specialists and even a professor of audiology in Gainseville...the only advise I was given was to protect what I still have left and get a good nigts sleep...every night! It seems that sleep loss makes it worse and the good proffessor said that he gets good results from his patience taking a supplement called Meletonin.

To some degree everyone has Tinitus ("T")...first time I ever noticed it was in an anachoic chamber in PAX River MD in my early years of naval aviation, very quite place! You can hear your heart beat that how quite it is.

Beleive me it gets better with time.

Good luck and email me any question you may have...I've been around the block with this one.

 

Did you happen to forget your wife's birthday... or maybe your anniversary?
or maybe... to pick her up at the mall, or something?

A few other symptoms other than the ringing of the ears for these kinds of things is ... sudden headache and seeing stars.

 

Well, I have a little experience with this subject as I look in ears all day long, test hearing and deal in hearing aids. Tinnitus is usually an indication of a high frequency hearing loss, usually due to noise. There can be many causes for the ringing, but most people with a high frequency hearing loss experience the ringing, buzzing, etc noises. If you are finding yourself constantly asking people to repeat themselves, if people sound muffled or if you have difficulties understanding speech in any kind of background noise, then you probably have a high freq. loss. and need hearing aids. The low freqs are where volume and power come from and the high freqs. are what makes speech clear (basically)
In 80% of the cases, when a person has a ringing in their ears and have a high freq hearing loss, properly adjusted hearing aids will stop the ringing while you are wearing them (it comes back when you take them out) In 20%, hearing aids have no impact on the ringing.
If you have difficulty sleeping, try playing a radio right next next to your bed. Some sound in quiet might help.

 

Good post Whateva!

White noise is a good thing (static), I tried to get hearing aids for my problem but the company insuranse will not buy them because the freq. lose is too high to effect speech.

So if I'm in my car in the morning I find a radio station that has static...and to sleep at night I use a pillow speaker (From RadioSHack) hooked to a clock radio that I can dial to static, you know; static is getting harder to find these days --- too many stations playin' music!

Hey Whateva...any tricks you know that can get the insuranse company to pay for hearing aids...I ruined my ears working on their planes, you'd think they'd pay for 'em?[:@]

 

Yes Fryeca you would think that they would. I am surprised that they didnt give you an annual hearing test just to cover their own rear end. I do know that some commercial airlines cover aids, at least they did. There is an airline based out of Tulsa, I think that it's American. They either build them there or rework them there, anyway, they cover hearing aids. No tricks to get the ins. companies to cover them. Either they do or they don't. Unfortunately, most don't.
There is new technology out that is for a loss such as yours. It is very small, goes behind the ear, but has no earmold in the ear and almost invisable. It is a digital "Open Fitting" They will do the trick. They are very expensive though.
I actually have a company that does special promotional sales all over the country for hearing aid manufacturers. I can get them for lesss than 1/2 of what you can but they are still not cheap.

 

A good brand of earplugs is Howard Leight. Instead of buying one or two pairs at a time, I bought a box of 100 pairs. This came out to about $.40 a pair. I've included the link to the ones I have below. These are perfect for riding. They are rated at 26 decibles, which will still let you hear your radio and ambulance sirens. Plus, they are good for lengthy use and are washable!

http://howardleight.com/products/products2.asp?id=10

It's good to protect your hearing! Would you stand in front of a jet engine without hearing protection?

 

go to www.aerostich.com they have an assortment of ear plugs that you can get to find a good fit. It won't break the bank. The wind blowing by the ears over a long time can cause ringing and/or plugged ear symptoms.