Decibel Noise

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NOLA

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So, I just got back from a ride, was gone most of the day (Yes, it was like 60-68 degrees here today :) ). I have the Termi exhaust on my Panigale and usually wear inside the ear foamies when I ride. Today I stopped for gas a few miles away from my house and didn't put them back in on the ride home, and when I got here, realized that when I got off the bike it was weirdly over quiet, then I noticed a little bit of a ringing"¦I thought :
1. Why did I do that?
2. I wonder how many Decibels my Termi's put out?
3. How long can I hear that PLUS wind noise before hearing damage?
4. How many people on this board use ear pro when they ride?

I have looked on here and the net for Decibel (dB) ratings and learned that for the most part a stock Panigale is 92ish in dB and with Termi its 111ish in dB. So I took that and did some cross reference to some studies with Doctors in Audiology giving their thoughts on damage. Keep in mind those 92-111dB ratings are prob not also factoring in wind noise at 55-65 miles per hour.

The study below shows that with 111.9dB you can safely have that amount of sound entering your ear for 56 seconds. Yes, 56. I sure rode more than 56 seconds at 65mph.

http://www.audiologyworld.net/pdf/motorcyclenoise.pdf

So my ultimate question is, how many people here use ear pro when they do normal street riding ? Is it normal to wear them on Ducati's ? I don't see many other V2 style bikes with riders putting them in.
Maybe one of the Mods can make one of those little "Vote" survey links at the top for people to vote on.

Thanks

NOLA
 
NOLA said:
So, I just got back from a ride, was gone most of the day (Yes, it was like 60-68 degrees here today :) ). I have the Termi exhaust on my Panigale and usually wear inside the ear foamies when I ride. Today I stopped for gas a few miles away from my house and didn't put them back in on the ride home, and when I got here, realized that when I got off the bike it was weirdly over quiet, then I noticed a little bit of a ringing"¦I thought :
1. Why did I do that?
2. I wonder how many Decibels my Termi's put out?
3. How long can I hear that PLUS wind noise before hearing damage?
4. How many people on this board use ear pro when they ride?

I have looked on here and the net for Decibel (dB) ratings and learned that for the most part a stock Panigale is 92ish in dB and with Termi its 111ish in dB. So I took that and did some cross reference to some studies with Doctors in Audiology giving their thoughts on damage. Keep in mind those 92-111dB ratings are prob not also factoring in wind noise at 55-65 miles per hour.

The study below shows that with 111.9dB you can safely have that amount of sound entering your ear for 56 seconds. Yes, 56. I sure rode more than 56 seconds at 65mph.

http://www.audiologyworld.net/pdf/motorcyclenoise.pdf

So my ultimate question is, how many people here use ear pro when they do normal street riding ? Is it normal to wear them on Ducati's ? I don't see many other V2 style bikes with riders putting them in.
Maybe one of the Mods can make one of those little "Vote" survey links at the top for people to vote on.

Thanks

NOLA
Click to expand...

I'm sorry, I didnt catch that, can you say it a little louder? :D

riding without ear protection in a shoei rf1100 with stock exhaust on the bike i never had issues.. just the temporary illusion of everything being more quiet after a long ride but this falls in the same category as your body feeling like it's still vibrating after getting off of it..
 
There's no way the stock cans are only 92db. I think they're around 100-105 range. I forget the exact number but it is over 100. I don't wear ear plugs when I ride. I've been bumpin sounds in my cars for over 15 years and my last car was a Yukon Denali with 4 12" subs. Was puttin out about 154db. I can definitely feel a noticeable difference from my right to left ear since the left ear is by the window side and isn't impacted as much as the right side but to my surprise, I haven't lost any hearing yet after having hearing tests performed. I'm sure that as I age, I'll notice it more n more but time will tell.

Once I get the akra pipes down the road, I may start using plugs but dont know yet. I've been riding for 10 years and have never felt the need to use them. Then again this is my first twin bike.
 
Last edited:
Been wearing plugs for 15+ years, I reckon they help focus as well as protect hearing ......mind you my hearing is f}#%^ked from the army so moot point although the very occasional time I go without deafens me
 
The first few times I rode this bike without earplugs my ears rang like I came from a concert
Now I never ride without them
Stock exhaust
I use cheap foam earplugs btw

On my 675R i never used earplugs or even considered it
very quiet bike
 
As outhouse said, there is a fairly large db drop from helmet on vs off. The other thing is in regards to that 56 sec at a time, the 111db is at high RPMs, and at least on the streets I personally don't ride around pinned at redline all the time. So I don't think it's quite that bad with a helmet on and say an avg of 6k RPM level of sound

That said, after an hr ride with a friend that also had an 1199 with termis next to me, my ears were absolutely ringing when i got home... so i can relate
 
I wear a schuberth modular with the bluetooth collar connected to my garmin zumo with satellite radio. I normally have music cranked!
 
Stock cans were measured @103db at Laguna. Even tried rolling off but no go got kicked off the track. The Termi full system is pretty loud with my COSAIR V. I bought a Shoei RF1200 to reduced the exhaust and wind noise. It reduced it dramatically but I am wearing ear plugs now with NPR33 ratings. Never had noise problems with my other bikes.
 
Last edited:
Yeah, the stock exhaust on the Pani is ridiculously loud. I remember the first time I rode it without plugs; had to stop for a sec to return a phone call, but only had a couple miles to go before I was home so I left the plugs out and freaked out at how loud it was. Jeez! Heck I used to leave my plugs out sometimes on my Daytona just to listen to the triple music, but that's sure not happening on this thing! Would love some quieter cans, since I prefer to be a bit stealthier. Best sounding bike I've owned imho was my '05 RC51 with stock cans. Just loud enough, but not so much as to be annoying. Or to drown out that lovely straight-cut cam gear whine... ;)
 
I have seen the same 102-103 figure for the stock system. With my Corsair Arai, the sound seems well muted. No earplugs here - I want to hear the idiots coming up behind and to the side of me.
 
Hi there ie a sticker on the bike that has the rating on it and it is 106 bd.
This is on the bikes in Austalia.
This is for stock pipes.
 
Termis slip-ons are no louder than the stock exaust WITH the db inserts. But, without the db killers it is totally different story ;)
 
BusaDuc said:
Been wearing plugs for 15+ years, I reckon they help focus as well as protect hearing ......mind you my hearing is f}#%^ked from the army so moot point although the very occasional time I go without deafens me
Click to expand...

+1
 
BusaDuc said:
Been wearing plugs for 15+ years, I reckon they help focus as well as protect hearing ......mind you my hearing is f}#%^ked from the army so moot point although the very occasional time I go without deafens me
Click to expand...

On that note:

"the most common service-connected disabilities are hearing impairments"

"The prevalence of severe hearing impairment among nonveterans was 2.5%. Among all veterans, the prevalence was 10.4%"

---http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6028a4.htm


It can get loud when my visor is cracked open so I wear earbud headphones to knock down the dbs, listen to music or answer the phone.
 
It is not the noise of the bike that is damaging, it is the wind noise you have to be careful about.

Engine noise is a lower frequency noise and it will take a long time to see a difference there (hearing loss wise), however wind noise has a broad range and its the higher frequency band that will screw your hearing initially.

This is why when you do a hearing test you start losing the higher frequency hearing capabilty first and it gradually moves to the lower frequency range.

People with hearing loss at the higher frequency range cannot hear high pitched frequency such as whistles etc at the same dB level as they could the lower frequency ones. Always wear ear plugs, above 55 mph, the wind noise inside the helmet is in excess of 100 dB and it is pretty damaging to your ears.

My ear plugs give me a 30 dB attenuation so at 100 mph, the wind noise I hear is generally around 75-80db which is not too bad compared to 115dB with no ear plugs(more or less depending on the design of the helmet).

On a closing note, here is a nice hearing test you can go through at home - you would need good quality head phones. Obviously, this cannot replace the actual medical test but it will give you a good idea how much deep in ..... you are already and if you need start thinking about ear plugs!

Keep your head phones volume to normal - the level you use to listen to news, etc.

Cool Hearing test - YouTube
 
mali said:
It is not the noise of the bike that is damaging, it is the wind noise you have to be careful about.
Click to expand...

Indeed. Never used to wear plugs riding motocross in my younger days, but on the road now they are great. Plus, wearing a 1st gen Bell Star makes them pretty much imperative. Loudest helmet I've ever worn by far, but it fits me great so I just "plug and play". And the plugs must be working; could still hear up to 16khz on the test... :p
 
mali said:
It is not the noise of the bike that is damaging, it is the wind noise you have to be careful about.

Engine noise is a lower frequency noise and it will take a long time to see a difference there (hearing loss wise), however wind noise has a broad range and its the higher frequency band that will screw your hearing initially.

This is why when you do a hearing test you start losing the higher frequency hearing capabilty first and it gradually moves to the lower frequency range.

People with hearing loss at the higher frequency range cannot hear high pitched frequency such as whistles etc at the same dB level as they could the lower frequency ones. Always wear ear plugs, above 55 mph, the wind noise inside the helmet is in excess of 100 dB and it is pretty damaging to your ears.

My ear plugs give me a 30 dB attenuation so at 100 mph, the wind noise I hear is generally around 75-80db which is not too bad compared to 115dB with no ear plugs(more or less depending on the design of the helmet).

On a closing note, here is a nice hearing test you can go through at home - you would need good quality head phones. Obviously, this cannot replace the actual medical test but it will give you a good idea how much deep in ..... you are already and if you need start thinking about ear plugs!

Keep your head phones volume to normal - the level you use to listen to news, etc.

Cool Hearing test - YouTube
Click to expand...

Woo hoo! I hit just above 110! :D
 
Please wear earplugs, everyone.

I have severe tinnitus. I first got it at the age of 44. I'll have it for the rest of my life. It came from a combination of bikes without earplugs, and flying light aircraft without plugs.

Good in ear earphones also work well. Look up etymotics, the leaders in dB reduction. Even better but very expensive are the molded ones.

Earplugs are super cheap. I buy them in boxes of 200. And they will help you prevent a very unpleasant disease. I keep a few pairs in the pocket of all of my jackets, and on a trackday it's the first thing I put on when suiting up.
 
+1

When I started riding about 6 years ago I had my first ride on a M695 with Termis. Came home, my ears were ringing.
Today they still are.
 

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