Earplugs for 914 Driving?, Plus a fun AI cartoon Options

[mrholland2]

Hearing is a tricky thing. Some ear plugs actually cause more damage than they prevent because they let the exact WRONG frequencies through. Sudden noises are MUCH more damaging that long, droning noises. Our ears can protect themselves when it is gradual (hence the dull hearing after a long trip).

The biggest predictors of having hearing loss as we age:
1. Being male
2. Fair hair/fair skin
3. Blue eyes

Not 100% accurate, but a tendency of prediction.

[campbellcj]

My car is about as loud as any 914 could get, particularly with open pipes - something around 112dbA. With a muffler it somehow passed a 105dbA Laguna sound check.

Most of my life my ears have taken serious punishment in terms of loud cars, rock music, and shooting ranges, often without protection (except at the range, I have high-end earmuffs).

In more recent years I've paid much more attention and used at least foam earbuds for concerts and for driving/racing. I had some custom-fitted earbuds made by a vendor at the track one day. Those are a game-changer in terms of comfort and function.

Possibly due to all this fun or else from birth I have a 'broken' left ear, a condition called otosclerosis where the tiny bones that handle acoustic hearing (stapes, incus, malleus?) got stuck together (calcified) at some point or had never formed correctly in the first place. It causes low frequency loss vs the more common high frequency loss from aging and injury. Thankfully it doesn't impair me much as my right ear is pretty much normal, but I got a hearing aid finally this year for tougher situations like noisy restaurants.

There's research showing a correlation between hearing loss and cognitive decline, possibly due to lack of use and atrophy of the nerves involved which connect to the temporal lobe - without a signal coming in the nerves essentially die off. This was a big reason why I got the hearing aid too.

Definitely take care of your ears folks (eyes too for that matter)!