That seems to be a very sweeping statement even given that you are an audiologist.
I play my music through the monitors at "background" level so that I can still hear what is happening around me, i.e. sounds that are still getting past the
monitors.
Would you state that this may/will still result in hearing damage?
This is of particular interest as my father suffers from tinnitus and I believe that it may be genetic.
It is an incredible statement on more than one level given the expertise an Audiologist is considered to have and people are likely to give credence to it.
Hearing damage is caused by prolonged exposure to noise;
Therefore if you expose your ears to excessive noise you will damage your hearing.
The statement by Beetle2112 over-simplifies matters and assumes the person wearing monitors is putting large amounts of noise into their ears. They could of course, the amount of noise is in their control. A monitor is designed to attenuate ambient noise, that is external noises are reduced, reducing the exposure to noise down to safer levels.
If you reduce ambient noise and the source of the sound you want to listen to is as close as a monitor places it you can listen at very low levels of sound, safely.
This is entirely different to users of normal in ear phones with very little designed-in attenuation like the Sennheiser CX300's mentioned above in this thread.
Because the ear concentrates on the sound nearest to it, these types of earphones give the impression of reducing noise because your ear is focussing on the sound nearest, but you'll find because it offers little in the way of attenuation the sound levels required are much greater to compensate.
If you truly believe in-ear earphones provide hearing protection then do yourself a favour and prove it, put them in your ears and ride for a couple of hours with no music playing through them, then ride home the same distance with a generic hearing product of your choice in your ears and satisfy yourself the protection of the in ear phones with no music provide at least the same attenuation as the generic ear plug.
Assuming because the music can be heard is providing a safe enough environment for your ears is a dangerous thing, the music at the level you are listening to it is masking a real threat to your hearing.
Our monitors attenuate noise by approximately 30dB, better than almost all generic products who's performance is susceptible to the generic product being fitted correctly in to the ear, in many cases people use the wrong size for their ears and as such the performance is reduced.
Additionally the comment about making your own simply because you are an Audiologist needs clearing up. I am as qualified by the British Audiological Society in Otoscopy & Impression Taking and have access to a video otocsope, which allows me to view my own ear on a screen.
Even with this I will never take my own impressions and make my own ear plugs, kits sold for DIY custom ear plugs are probably the biggest risk to your ears than any amount of not using ear plugs, there are plenty of reasons where it would be un-safe to take an impression and I don't believe I could take my own impressions safely and accurately in spite of being trained and qualified to do it for others.
As a company at the Excel show this last weekend we refused enough business on the grounds of safety to have paid for the stand and the staff wages twice over. How would those people have known it wasn't safe to take their own impressions
I appreciate this is a forum for bikers and not a medical practice discussion forum but people are likely to place credence especially when they associate knowledge/expertise especially when qualifications are dropped into the mix.
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