Nothing beats taking your Donkervoort out for a spin on the first sunny day of the season. But the wind, the roaring of the engine and noise of other vehicles can put a damper on your drive, when you find yourself experiencing tinnitus (ringing or buzzing in the ears) or other symptoms of hearing damage. Invest in professional hear-through ear protection with correct wind noise filters. 

We all know that loud noises can harm our ears and even cause irreversible hearing loss. This is especially true when we are exposed to loud noises over an extended period of time. So, it should be no surprise that new research conducted by several institutes has confirmed as much – that prolonged exposure to road noise and wind buffeting while riding in top-down convertibles can cause hearing damage.

Damage

Driving without a roof can boost the noise level by up to 14.6 decibels (dB), and into the range harmful to hearing. Testing concluded that driving at 90 Km/h or higher with the top down resulted in noise above 85 dB, which has been determined to be the level at which hearing loss will definitively occur with prolonged exposure.

Measured noise level in our GTO doing 140 Km/h is resulting in a whopping 127 dB! Here’s the list to compare. It’s about the same noise as a large jet plane taking off! You can imagine the result. This can also result in sudden deafness!

It’s hard to hear how loud it is when you’re also being buffeted by the wind, not to mention the distraction of having a great time while riding in a convertible.

Plus, if you already have hearing loss, you may have even more trouble perceiving just how loud – and damaging – the noise is.

The solution

So, invest before the new driving season, in a professional pair of ear protectors purpose fit made for your ears and wear them! Otherwise this is the result in damage to your ears you have to cope with the rest of your life:

Modern ear protectors have a specific ceramic sound filter mounted, which only eliminate harmful wind noise levels, but still give you the option to hear your passengers voice in giving directions (some of you may do not like this depending on the years of marriage in the pocket, but that’s a different topic ;-). There are several companies providing comfortable protectors.