lol, you are one stubborn guy. Should serve you well in life to have that much conviction. Its a dumb move not to wear earplugs when you ride, but its your call and I respect your ability to fend off the hordes of old people telling you what to do, even when they are right.
I just want to be sure that others reading this post check out the studies on hearing loss when making a decision based upon fact and science, and concern for their future. In addition to the
House Ear Institute warning I'd posted earlier, here are some additional links I hope people will review before deciding not to wear earplugs:
Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine study on effects of motorcycle riding on hearing loss.
Dr. Mike Coley, Otologist and Motorcyclist, recommending wearing ear plugs while riding.
University of Minnesota Medical Center says riding without plugs can easily cause hearing loss.
Facts about Motorcycle Hearing Loss.
British Journal on Sports Medicine study on hearing loss for grand prix riders, recommending ear plugs
The Royal Society study is particularly good and a must read. Here is a summary of the results:
* There is excessive wind noise around the helmet—about 90 dB(A) at 60 km/h and increasing linearly when plotted against the log of speed, to reach 110 dB(A) at 160 km/h.
* This level is well documented to cause damage.
* Modern helmets offered very poor low-frequency sound attenuation.
* Motorcyclists experienced hearing loss as a result of their noise exposure.
* There is an effect after only 1 hour of high-speed riding and a corresponding subjective complaint of tinnitus. After long periods at high speed, riders commonly report other non-specific complaints such as fatigue, headache and even disequilibrium.
* Earplugs proved effective in preventing damage.
* Earplugs were relatively safe in terms of signal detection while riding.
* Earplugs improved general wellbeing after riding.
If you've got access to a research library and are interested in this type of thing, there are a series of scholarly articles cited by the Royal Society study. Of most interest is a guy named McCombe out of the Department of Otolaryngology at Plymouth General Hospital who has done a half dozen studies on this. What does he recommend? "There is a need to raise awareness to this problem and increase the use of earplugs."