Motorcycles have been around for over 100 years, since Gotlieb Daimler first put one of his “internal combustion” engines into a bicycle frame. They have long been thought of as a noisy nuisance but this more often by the public than the riders. There would be common agreement though that riding a motorcycle poses certain health risks. Orthopaedic wards in hospitals throughout the UK are testament to this fact.

However, a less well recognised risk of riding a motorcycle is that to hearing. Research from the early 1990’s has shown that once a rider reaches and passes 40mph, the pattern of airflow around the rider, and particularly the rider’s helmet, leads to vibration in this area and the generation of “wind noise”. Even if you do not ride a motorcycle, you will have come across a similar sound if you have ever put down a car window when travelling at speed.

At speeds of around 40mph, the noise level at the rider’s ear is of the order of 85-90dB(A); a potentially damaging amount. The level increases to about 110dB(A) at around 100mph, a level that is “safe” for only about 3 minutes! At typical motorway speeds the sound level is around 100dB(A) and safe for about 30 minutes.

Unfortunately, it is difficult to do anything with motorcycle design to improve this and although there are some modifications that can be made to crash helmets to improve their sound protection qualities, the manufacturers appear to have little interest and so have taken this no further.

This therefore leaves the onus for ear protection on the individual rider. At this point in time the best advice and only realistic option is the use of earplugs. At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter which type of earplugs one uses as long as they fit well, are comfortable and therefore GET USED.

People often worry that using earplugs for this purpose will stop them hearing important warning signals such as sirens, horns and other traffic. Further research has shown that above about 45mph, when the wind-noise level exceeds 90dB(A), warning signal detection is in fact better with earplugs in place!

So the best advice is: If you ride a motorcycle – use earplugs – not for short urban journeys where speeds are likely to remain below 50mph – but for all longer journeys, especially motorway riding, where speeds in excess of 50mph are common.