Ringing ears and loud fans

As I get older, my eye sight has started to go, and my ears have started ringing. The ears might be tinnitus. Hoping to find out more ones this coronavirus stuff settles. But for now…

Has anyone found ways to deal with loud fans during indoor training sessions? I’ve already switched out to a quieter trainer. Have been toying with the idea of ear plugs during TrainerRoad sessions.

Curious to hear what others have done? Worried about the idea of a loud fan making matters worse

Turn up the music & Noise cancelling headphones

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I’m using AirPod Pros, the noise canceling is excellent

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Maybe go with a larger fan that runs at a lower RPM? I switched from a 20in box fan to a 27in industrial drum fan and it is more quiet due to the lower fan blade speed. As a bonus it moves much more air and I get a full body breeze.

I use Aftershokz bone conduction headphones which have 0 noise deadening / cancellation and no issues with the big fan. I grew concerned about damaging my ears with daly high volume music while on the trainer and like the bone conduction. I use them at work too and can hear everything around me and people think I have headphones on and cannot. :slight_smile:

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What fan are you using? Axial fans are usually louder than blower fans. Worth buying a Lasko fan or similar. The “noise” you hear from a Lasko fan is the wind passing your ears.

Dyson fans are very quiet. It depends on how much cooling you need, but I’m fine with one of the smaller ones. It is so quiet that I can run in in hot summers in the bedroom. They’re horribly expensive though, but look cool and the laminar airflow is also quite nice.

I got a set of decibulz moldable ear plugs. Assuming you don’t want to hear anything, thats the way to go. Me? I want to listen to stuff. Being the ingenuitive lad that I am, I cut the ear canal plugs out and stuffed earbud headphones into them (fits like an oversized replacement tip). I think they do make a version with builtin earbuds, but I was worried they’d rust out eventually or something. This way, any cheapo set will do.

I looked into this last summer as a result of this thread, which you might peruse:

I use over the ear headphones. Bit hot but cuts out all noise.
Btw I suffer from tinnitus. It get worse the harder I train. Knowing that it’ll quieten down when I reduce training helps me put up with it.

If you are facing these problems then you have to read this.

I also noticed that when I train harder, my tinnitus gets worse. I wonder whether it is due to increased blood pressure. Maybe there are ways to avoid it.

Foamy ear plugs + bone conduction headphones are a sneaky good combo.

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I would be interested in any source of that. Could you share some more info?

Worst tasting gum ever!!!

Did anyone else read the title and think of cheering supporters? I don’t have those in my basement unfortunately.

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Get Earpeace earplugs. The music ones. They block out constant background noise and allow sound through. You actually hear better with them in than without.

I have been using Hi-Fi ear plugs for about 15 years for loud music shows. I have personally tested about 6 brands side by side. Earpeace absolutely destroyed the others for clarity and quality of sound, overall noise reduction and comfort. You can honestly hardly tell they are in after a few mins.

I wear these on almost every ride I do outside. You hear everything perfectly, and it cuts out the wind rush noise.

It honestly blows my mind that more people don’t know about and wear Hi-Fi earplugs for more activities. If more people did from a younger age, less people would struggle with tinnitus when they get older. There is this mistaken belief that you’re not damaging your hearing unless it “hurts” or “bothers you”. So if “it doesn’t bother me”, then you’re fine. It’s not. It’s like a jar of sand. Every time you expose yourself to loud environments, like riding a bike fast, or on a windy day, you pour some sand out of the jar. When the jar is empty, you have tinnitus, permanently, which will continue to get worse with further exposure.

Get the Music Pro with the max red filter. Happy riding.