6 ms·

I’ve taken up wearing earplugs while driving. I also work in a noisy environment, and it occurs to me that the road and engine and wind noise is probably loud

I’ve taken up wearing earplugs while driving. I also work in a noisy environment, and it occurs to me that the road and engine and wind noise is probably loud enough to have a negative impact on hearing over time. Less so in newer cars, but both mine are over 10yo. Also, in the event of a collision I’m protected.

whenchamenia 7y ago
At least in most of the usa, wearing earplugs (or earbuds, headphones, etc) while operating a car, is illegal. Please check with your local PD to be safe. You may just be putting yourself and others at higher risk by attinuating your situational awareness.
- phinnaeus 7y ago
  On a motorcycle, earplugs are a necessity at speeds over 35 MPH due to wind noise. I've found that the earplugs really only cut out the wind noise for the most part though and if anything, my awareness of other cars is increased.
- epalm 7y ago
  I wear earplugs when I ride my motorcycle for longer trips on the highway. When people see this, they say "that's dangerous, you'll hear less" but it mostly cuts the wind noise, and counter-intuitively I end up hearing more than I would otherwise.
  - Baeocystin 7y ago
    They make flat-frequency-response earplugs, too. They don't cost much more, and you get to keep the highs that provide context while still reducing the overall sound intensity. I love them for both motorcycle rides and concerts. You'll find several hits if you search for Musician's Earplugs.
    - distances 7y ago
      I have some hearing damage with mild tinnitus and find it hard to follow discussions in noisy environments (bars, very noisy public transport, even some restaurants). Custom fitted flat frequency earplugs are the perfect help for these situations, I always carry them in pocket just in case.
      - OrangeMango 7y ago
        Would you expound on this a little and perhaps mention some brands? I also have issues following discussions in those kinds of environments. I can hear the people talking, but it blends into the background noise and becomes very difficult to isolate the actual words.
        jcurbo 7y ago
        Etymotic Research https://www.etymotic.com/ https://www.etymotic.com/
        distances 7y ago
        Sure. My plugs are Elacin ER. I walked into a hearing aid/protection shop and got a mold of my ear canals made. Plugs were made to match the mold, took a couple of weeks and about 200€. Noise reduction is done with an exchangeable filter with different options for reduction levels, I'm using 25dB. Not the cheapest but if you don't lose them the should last a decade. Let me know if you have any other questions!
        OrangeMango 7y ago
        Thank you very much!
- adinisom 7y ago
  Proper situational awareness while driving is a visual task. As people age, they begin to lose hearing and ability to localize sounds due to age and noise exposure. Leaning on hearing for safety becomes a liability.
  - fuzzy2 7y ago
    That’s incredibly narrow-minded. You’re not “leaning on hearing”. You’re using all the information you can get. Hearing is vital. How else would you know an ambulance is around the corner, about to run a red light? There are things you simply cannot see, no matter how hard you look.
    - jnty 7y ago
      Emergency response drivers never assume they've been heard by any road users and are trained to look for signs of acknowledgement and awareness before doing anything unusual for exactly this reason. They certainly don't blast at speed around blind corners against the lights.
- TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
  At low speeds, driving around car parks etc, the ear plugs are out and usually have all the windows at least partly open, because I’m those environments hearing can be a huge boost to situational awareness. I find above 40k/hr my hearing is better with ear plugs because it attenuates the road, wind, and engine noise more for me.
- vageli 7y ago
  > At least in most of the usa, wearing earplugs (or earbuds, headphones, etc) while operating a car, is illegal. Please check with your local PD to be safe. You may just be putting yourself and others at higher risk by attinuating your situational awareness. Actually, it seems like it's legal in most states? [0] Unless your local municpal code says differently. [0]: https://drivinglaws.aaa.com/tag/headsets/ https://drivinglaws.aaa.com/tag/headsets/
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- emteycz 7y ago
  On the other hand driving schools in Europe sometimes make us drive with construction safety devices in order to check if we can drive without hearing anything. They also obstruct the middle mirror (you're supposed to be able to drive with just side mirrors).
  - ambentzen 7y ago
    As a European with a drivers license this is news to me.
    - TomMarius 7y ago
      Not even all schools in my country do that, it's nothing standard, just something some schools around me do (and it's encouraged by the police). However I think it's illustrative of the car culture. The center mirror thing is done by all schools though.
  - mnw21cam 7y ago
    When I was learning to drive, my biggest complaint was that I couldn't hear the engine when there was noise in the area - it was a very quiet one. It made it harder to do hill starts and clutch balancing. Now I drive a diesel.
- gambiting 7y ago
  How can it be? Is driving deaf illegal there as well?
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
megaremote 7y ago
Fantastic, someone driving a deadly vehicle responsible for 40,000 deaths every single year, and now they can't even hear anything either. Hey, but as long as you are ok, right?
- TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
  The ear plugs I wear are 27dB reduction, so it's not like I can't hear anything. How do you think the 27dB reduction due to ear plug hearing protection compares to someone playing loud music in their car. Also see my other comment here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20702195 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20702195, reproduced for your benefit here: At low speeds, driving around car parks etc, the ear plugs are out and usually have all the windows at least partly open, because I’m those environments hearing can be a huge boost to situational awareness. I find above 40k/hr my hearing is better with ear plugs because it attenuates the road, wind, and engine noise more for me. Additionally, I've never been responsible for a serious accident, only a couple fender-benders when I was much younger. Also, as per the site guidelines https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Be kind. Don't be snarky. Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive. Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith.
- gambiting 7y ago
  You do realize that deaf people can drive legally, yeah?
  - VBprogrammer 7y ago
    People with double arm amputations can also drive but if you or I decided to go out and drive with our feet it would be stupid.
    - gambiting 7y ago
      The difference is that they obviously use cars that are modified and certified for use with foot controls(at least here in EU they are, I wouldn't be surprised if US didn't require any certification whatsoever). You also get a restriction on your licence saying that you can only drive such vehicles. A deaf person doesn't have any restrictions - my point is that there is no functional or legal difference between a deaf person driving and a person driving with earplugs in, the law doesn't specify a requirement that you have to be able to hear to drive.
nodesocket 7y ago
Wow, always putting earplugs in when you drive. Don't get me wrong, it is smart, just I lack the discipline to do it every time.
- TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
  Well, it mostly involves leaving work with them in and leaving them in till I get where I'm going. Plus, I've never been one to have ear infections, so I end up with used ones in all my pockets so they're pretty much always on me. As another comment mentioned, there are flat frequency response ear plugs, Etymotic ETY ER20 are pretty cheap, reusable and cleanable. Not as much dB reduction, but that's better for some scenarios.
  - AstralStorm 7y ago
    You would have a helmet on top if you're driving a motorcycle or bicycle, extra 20 dB is easily had with the right design, plus attenuating wind noise. Combine the two and it gets almost safe level of noise. And a car would have pretty decent internal damping. The general traffic is already way too loud. Can reach 80 dBA and even more in tunnels.
- skgoa 7y ago
  When you drive a truly noisy car or motorcycle, you will remember to do it.
mnw21cam 7y ago
When cycling, I find that a simple fleece headband/hat that covers the ears is wonderful at stopping the wind noise, but letting in all the other important noises.

whenchamenia 7y ago

At least in most of the usa, wearing earplugs (or earbuds, headphones, etc) while operating a car, is illegal. Please check with your local PD to be safe. You may just be putting yourself and others at higher risk by attinuating your situational awareness.

phinnaeus 7y ago
On a motorcycle, earplugs are a necessity at speeds over 35 MPH due to wind noise. I've found that the earplugs really only cut out the wind noise for the most part though and if anything, my awareness of other cars is increased.
epalm 7y ago
I wear earplugs when I ride my motorcycle for longer trips on the highway. When people see this, they say "that's dangerous, you'll hear less" but it mostly cuts the wind noise, and counter-intuitively I end up hearing more than I would otherwise.
- Baeocystin 7y ago
  They make flat-frequency-response earplugs, too. They don't cost much more, and you get to keep the highs that provide context while still reducing the overall sound intensity. I love them for both motorcycle rides and concerts. You'll find several hits if you search for Musician's Earplugs.
  - distances 7y ago
    I have some hearing damage with mild tinnitus and find it hard to follow discussions in noisy environments (bars, very noisy public transport, even some restaurants). Custom fitted flat frequency earplugs are the perfect help for these situations, I always carry them in pocket just in case.
    - OrangeMango 7y ago
      Would you expound on this a little and perhaps mention some brands? I also have issues following discussions in those kinds of environments. I can hear the people talking, but it blends into the background noise and becomes very difficult to isolate the actual words.
      - jcurbo 7y ago
        Etymotic Research https://www.etymotic.com/ https://www.etymotic.com/
      - distances 7y ago
        Sure. My plugs are Elacin ER. I walked into a hearing aid/protection shop and got a mold of my ear canals made. Plugs were made to match the mold, took a couple of weeks and about 200€. Noise reduction is done with an exchangeable filter with different options for reduction levels, I'm using 25dB. Not the cheapest but if you don't lose them the should last a decade. Let me know if you have any other questions!
        OrangeMango 7y ago
        Thank you very much!
adinisom 7y ago
Proper situational awareness while driving is a visual task. As people age, they begin to lose hearing and ability to localize sounds due to age and noise exposure. Leaning on hearing for safety becomes a liability.
- fuzzy2 7y ago
  That’s incredibly narrow-minded. You’re not “leaning on hearing”. You’re using all the information you can get. Hearing is vital. How else would you know an ambulance is around the corner, about to run a red light? There are things you simply cannot see, no matter how hard you look.
  - jnty 7y ago
    Emergency response drivers never assume they've been heard by any road users and are trained to look for signs of acknowledgement and awareness before doing anything unusual for exactly this reason. They certainly don't blast at speed around blind corners against the lights.
TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
At low speeds, driving around car parks etc, the ear plugs are out and usually have all the windows at least partly open, because I’m those environments hearing can be a huge boost to situational awareness. I find above 40k/hr my hearing is better with ear plugs because it attenuates the road, wind, and engine noise more for me.
vageli 7y ago
> At least in most of the usa, wearing earplugs (or earbuds, headphones, etc) while operating a car, is illegal. Please check with your local PD to be safe. You may just be putting yourself and others at higher risk by attinuating your situational awareness. Actually, it seems like it's legal in most states? [0] Unless your local municpal code says differently. [0]: https://drivinglaws.aaa.com/tag/headsets/ https://drivinglaws.aaa.com/tag/headsets/
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
emteycz 7y ago
On the other hand driving schools in Europe sometimes make us drive with construction safety devices in order to check if we can drive without hearing anything. They also obstruct the middle mirror (you're supposed to be able to drive with just side mirrors).
- ambentzen 7y ago
  As a European with a drivers license this is news to me.
  - TomMarius 7y ago
    Not even all schools in my country do that, it's nothing standard, just something some schools around me do (and it's encouraged by the police). However I think it's illustrative of the car culture. The center mirror thing is done by all schools though.
- mnw21cam 7y ago
  When I was learning to drive, my biggest complaint was that I couldn't hear the engine when there was noise in the area - it was a very quiet one. It made it harder to do hill starts and clutch balancing. Now I drive a diesel.
gambiting 7y ago
How can it be? Is driving deaf illegal there as well?
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

megaremote 7y ago

Fantastic, someone driving a deadly vehicle responsible for 40,000 deaths every single year, and now they can't even hear anything either. Hey, but as long as you are ok, right?

TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
The ear plugs I wear are 27dB reduction, so it's not like I can't hear anything. How do you think the 27dB reduction due to ear plug hearing protection compares to someone playing loud music in their car. Also see my other comment here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20702195 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20702195, reproduced for your benefit here: At low speeds, driving around car parks etc, the ear plugs are out and usually have all the windows at least partly open, because I’m those environments hearing can be a huge boost to situational awareness. I find above 40k/hr my hearing is better with ear plugs because it attenuates the road, wind, and engine noise more for me. Additionally, I've never been responsible for a serious accident, only a couple fender-benders when I was much younger. Also, as per the site guidelines https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Be kind. Don't be snarky. Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive. Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith.
gambiting 7y ago
You do realize that deaf people can drive legally, yeah?
- VBprogrammer 7y ago
  People with double arm amputations can also drive but if you or I decided to go out and drive with our feet it would be stupid.
  - gambiting 7y ago
    The difference is that they obviously use cars that are modified and certified for use with foot controls(at least here in EU they are, I wouldn't be surprised if US didn't require any certification whatsoever). You also get a restriction on your licence saying that you can only drive such vehicles. A deaf person doesn't have any restrictions - my point is that there is no functional or legal difference between a deaf person driving and a person driving with earplugs in, the law doesn't specify a requirement that you have to be able to hear to drive.

nodesocket 7y ago

Wow, always putting earplugs in when you drive. Don't get me wrong, it is smart, just I lack the discipline to do it every time.

TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
Well, it mostly involves leaving work with them in and leaving them in till I get where I'm going. Plus, I've never been one to have ear infections, so I end up with used ones in all my pockets so they're pretty much always on me. As another comment mentioned, there are flat frequency response ear plugs, Etymotic ETY ER20 are pretty cheap, reusable and cleanable. Not as much dB reduction, but that's better for some scenarios.
- AstralStorm 7y ago
  You would have a helmet on top if you're driving a motorcycle or bicycle, extra 20 dB is easily had with the right design, plus attenuating wind noise. Combine the two and it gets almost safe level of noise. And a car would have pretty decent internal damping. The general traffic is already way too loud. Can reach 80 dBA and even more in tunnels.
skgoa 7y ago
When you drive a truly noisy car or motorcycle, you will remember to do it.

mnw21cam 7y ago

When cycling, I find that a simple fleece headband/hat that covers the ears is wonderful at stopping the wind noise, but letting in all the other important noises.