Pardon?But seriously, there’s SPL and SPL. Keeping it sinusoidal helps a lot - like you, between the ages of 19 and 30 much of my time was spent doing those things. I ended up at Britannia Row Productions and as chief boffin for a couple of years continued their philosophy of using power amps so big that they should never clip (or rather, the speaker has blown to bits by then). Keeping away from square waves enabled loud, undistorted sound and my ears rarely rang after shows or some heavy testing, like 35kW cranked in the warehouse lol.I’ve never looked at the shape of bike exhaust audio; presumably it’s a bit peaky and percussive to say the least. It would be interesting to look at a sample on a plot, helmet / wind noise too. I don’t use earplugs yet but do notice that I suffer hearing fatigue after a while - less so without the lid, surprisingly.
I think at Britannia Row you would have had kit that the venues I worked with could only dream about. I remember the first time I heard a Wigwam Meyer system, just awesome, a league above anythng I’d used.
That’s a really interesting point - there could be a patent in that! What would manipulating exhausts to produce a ‘softer’ sound do to the bike’s performance?
I too found out the hard way. I got this http://http://bellspalsy.org.uk/whatisit.htm through an ear infection. I now have 70%/30% hearing after commuting from Dunstable to N1 for 5 years. Use earplugs.
I have got some from Ultimate ear… well should have them by Wednesday anyway, not really ridden in plugs much before, but my hearing is wrecked from playing in bands, working in garages & construction sites in the dim distant past etc etc
There are so many different shapes, foam densities, designs etc what I did is order one of these http://www.sounddistribution.co.uk/products.asp?recnumber=63 to see which I liked and stuck with it. I prefer the Max ones but it’s personal thing. Whatever you do, use some sort of earplugs, anything is better than long-term hearing damage.
I have used custom plugs for years. They don’t attenuate appreciably better than the Moldex or other good disposables, but they are certainly more comfortable to wear. I find after several hours with disposables, that they start bruising the inside of my ear canal.
I use Max Lite earplugs they’re great and stay in my ears much better than Moldex ones.
I went to the Ace from work on Monday and as it’s not too far and slow roads I didn’t wear my earplugs. At first I thought that there was something wrong with my bike because it sounded so loud and rattly until I realised I didn’t have earplugs in like I usually do. They certainly attenuate the sound well, you can hear everything getting quieter as they expand. Brilliant stuff!
