ear fairings?

I notice I get a lot of wind noise when I ride. I wonder how much it
varies from person to person, since our ears have different shapes.
When I turn my head slightly to either side, the noise goes away
completely. I realize my helmet straps contribute to the noise, but I
don't think they provide half the noise. It's my ears whistling
against the wind.

I'd think someone surely has invented a fairing to attach to the ears
or helmet, but I don't see it. I'd love to be able to get rid of the
noise.

Thoughts?

--
Tom Reingold
Noo Joizy

On Fri, 4 Jul 2008 18:07:12 -0700 (PDT), Tom Reingold
wrote:

I notice I get a lot of wind noise when I ride. I wonder how much it
varies from person to person, since our ears have different shapes.
When I turn my head slightly to either side, the noise goes away
completely. I realize my helmet straps contribute to the noise, but I
don't think they provide half the noise. It's my ears whistling
against the wind.

I'd think someone surely has invented a fairing to attach to the ears
or helmet, but I don't see it. I'd love to be able to get rid of the
noise.

Thoughts?

Dear Tom,

Gentleman's model, black only, team logo:
http://www.laughingplacestore.com/im...ucts/3012L.jpg

Lady's model, appropriate color, time-trial rear streamlining
attachment:
http://www.laughingplacestore.com/im...ucts/1442L.jpg

For those too shy to wear such bold designs, the more traditional
model has been available since 1914 or so, but is considered a trifle
warm:
http://www.factsurplus.co.uk/product/111

More seriously, here's the start of an old thread where posters
worried about wind noise damaging the hearing of bicyclists:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.b...86e512c84d8e7e

Haven't heard anything about their problems in a few years.

:-)

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

"Tom Reingold" wrote in message
...
I notice I get a lot of wind noise when I ride. I wonder how much it
varies from person to person, since our ears have different shapes.
When I turn my head slightly to either side, the noise goes away
completely. I realize my helmet straps contribute to the noise, but I
don't think they provide half the noise. It's my ears whistling
against the wind.

Ride without your helmet and you'll see that 90% of the noise comes from the
helmet straps.

On Jul 4, 8:07*pm, Tom Reingold wrote:
I notice I get a lot of wind noise when I ride. I wonder how much it
varies from person to person, since our ears have different shapes.
When I turn my head slightly to either side, the noise goes away
completely. I realize my helmet straps contribute to the noise, but I
don't think they provide half the noise. It's my ears whistling
against the wind.

I'd think someone surely has invented a fairing to attach to the ears
or helmet, but I don't see it. I'd love to be able to get rid of the
noise.

Thoughts?

--
Tom Reingold
Noo Joizy

http://www.slipstreamz.com/

On Fri, 4 Jul 2008 19:10:14 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

On Jul 4, 8:07*pm, Tom Reingold wrote:
I notice I get a lot of wind noise when I ride. I wonder how much it
varies from person to person, since our ears have different shapes.
When I turn my head slightly to either side, the noise goes away
completely. I realize my helmet straps contribute to the noise, but I
don't think they provide half the noise. It's my ears whistling
against the wind.

I'd think someone surely has invented a fairing to attach to the ears
or helmet, but I don't see it. I'd love to be able to get rid of the
noise.

Thoughts?

--
Tom Reingold
Noo Joizy

http://www.slipstreamz.com/

Dear AF,

Aha! I couldn't remember the name.

Here's a post in a thread about Slipstreamz in which Hank says that
they helped--and that he found that just twisting his helmet straps
for attaching them accounted for most of the effect:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.b...c3f8b17c03be6f

Back then the slipstreamz site sometimes popped up virus alerts, but
it seems to be okay now.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

Tom Reingold wrote:

I'd think someone surely has invented a fairing to attach to the ears
or helmet, but I don't see it. I'd love to be able to get rid of the
noise.

At Maker Faire 2007 in Austin, I saw that someone had made a bunch of
DIY earmuffs for cyclists by slicing hollow plastic play balls into
two hemispheres, padding the cut edges with terry cloth, and mounting
the cups on an elastic headband. There were dozens of pairs of them
in a pile. The accompanying literature stated that they were designed
to cut down wind noise without unduly reducing hearing. At the time I
saw the earmuffs, they were unattended by their maker, so I was unable
to discuss them.

I have not been able to find any online mention of these ear
protectors, but I thought they were a pretty good idea in principle.

I agree with Tom Kunich that helmet straps are accountable for the
preponderance of distracting wind noise. Differences in individual
ear structure probably make large differences in perceived wind noise
among bareheaded cyclists.

Chalo

In article
,
Chalo wrote:

Tom Reingold wrote:

I'd think someone surely has invented a fairing to attach to the ears
or helmet, but I don't see it. I'd love to be able to get rid of the
noise.

At Maker Faire 2007 in Austin, I saw that someone had made a bunch of
DIY earmuffs for cyclists by slicing hollow plastic play balls into
two hemispheres, padding the cut edges with terry cloth, and mounting
the cups on an elastic headband. There were dozens of pairs of them
in a pile. The accompanying literature stated that they were designed
to cut down wind noise without unduly reducing hearing. At the time I
saw the earmuffs, they were unattended by their maker, so I was unable
to discuss them.

I have not been able to find any online mention of these ear
protectors, but I thought they were a pretty good idea in principle.

I agree with Tom Kunich that helmet straps are accountable for the
preponderance of distracting wind noise. Differences in individual
ear structure probably make large differences in perceived wind noise
among bareheaded cyclists.

Chalo

In my motorcycling days, I got serious enough about ear protection to
buy a large box (a hundred? A gross?) of earplugs. I can't remember what
I did with them, but I have never felt the need to submit to similar
measures on a bike.

If I did, I'm sure they would do the trick quite nicely.

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."

On Jul 5, 3:11*am, Ryan Cousineau wrote:
In article
,



*Chalo wrote:
Tom Reingold wrote:

I'd think someone surely has invented a fairing to attach to the ears
or helmet, but I don't see it. I'd love to be able to get rid of the
noise.

At Maker Faire 2007 in Austin, I saw that someone had made a bunch of
DIY earmuffs for cyclists by slicing hollow plastic play balls into
two hemispheres, padding the cut edges with terry cloth, and mounting
the cups on an elastic headband. *There were dozens of pairs of them
in a pile. *The accompanying literature stated that they were designed
to cut down wind noise without unduly reducing hearing. *At the time I
saw the earmuffs, they were unattended by their maker, so I was unable
to discuss them.

I have not been able to find any online mention of these ear
protectors, but I thought they were a pretty good idea in principle.

I agree with Tom Kunich that helmet straps are accountable for the
preponderance of distracting wind noise. *Differences in individual
ear structure probably make large differences in perceived wind noise
among bareheaded cyclists.

Chalo

In my motorcycling days, I got serious enough about ear protection to
buy a large box (a hundred? A gross?) of earplugs. I can't remember what
I did with them, but I have never felt the need to submit to similar
measures on a bike.

Half a foam earplug used to do me fine in my motorbiking days, enough
to hear by, but enough to kill the engine and wind rumble. Some cotton
might also do the trick.

In article
,
landotter wrote:

On Jul 5, 3:11*am, Ryan Cousineau wrote:
In article
,



*Chalo wrote:
Tom Reingold wrote:

I'd think someone surely has invented a fairing to attach to the ears
or helmet, but I don't see it. I'd love to be able to get rid of the
noise.

At Maker Faire 2007 in Austin, I saw that someone had made a bunch of
DIY earmuffs for cyclists by slicing hollow plastic play balls into
two hemispheres, padding the cut edges with terry cloth, and mounting
the cups on an elastic headband. *There were dozens of pairs of them
in a pile. *The accompanying literature stated that they were designed
to cut down wind noise without unduly reducing hearing. *At the time I
saw the earmuffs, they were unattended by their maker, so I was unable
to discuss them.

I have not been able to find any online mention of these ear
protectors, but I thought they were a pretty good idea in principle.

I agree with Tom Kunich that helmet straps are accountable for the
preponderance of distracting wind noise. *Differences in individual
ear structure probably make large differences in perceived wind noise
among bareheaded cyclists.

Chalo

In my motorcycling days, I got serious enough about ear protection to
buy a large box (a hundred? A gross?) of earplugs. I can't remember what
I did with them, but I have never felt the need to submit to similar
measures on a bike.

Half a foam earplug used to do me fine in my motorbiking days, enough
to hear by, but enough to kill the engine and wind rumble. Some cotton
might also do the trick.

I used the orange tapered 3M foam units, unmodified, and was very happy
with the noise protection they gave me inside a full-face helmet. I
definitely heard "relevant" noises better with the earplugs in than out,
and wore them on virtually every ride.

But I'm curious: how many people find wind noise a big problem on a
bicycle, and how many of those people haven't got a ProTour contract yet?

Snarky, I know, but that must be one heck of a headwind some of these
cyclists are facing.

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."

On Sat, 05 Jul 2008 17:58:42 GMT, Ryan Cousineau
wrote:

In article
,
landotter wrote:

On Jul 5, 3:11*am, Ryan Cousineau wrote:
In article
,



*Chalo wrote:
Tom Reingold wrote:

I'd think someone surely has invented a fairing to attach to the ears
or helmet, but I don't see it. I'd love to be able to get rid of the
noise.

At Maker Faire 2007 in Austin, I saw that someone had made a bunch of
DIY earmuffs for cyclists by slicing hollow plastic play balls into
two hemispheres, padding the cut edges with terry cloth, and mounting
the cups on an elastic headband. *There were dozens of pairs of them
in a pile. *The accompanying literature stated that they were designed
to cut down wind noise without unduly reducing hearing. *At the time I
saw the earmuffs, they were unattended by their maker, so I was unable
to discuss them.

I have not been able to find any online mention of these ear
protectors, but I thought they were a pretty good idea in principle.

I agree with Tom Kunich that helmet straps are accountable for the
preponderance of distracting wind noise. *Differences in individual
ear structure probably make large differences in perceived wind noise
among bareheaded cyclists.

Chalo

In my motorcycling days, I got serious enough about ear protection to
buy a large box (a hundred? A gross?) of earplugs. I can't remember what
I did with them, but I have never felt the need to submit to similar
measures on a bike.

Half a foam earplug used to do me fine in my motorbiking days, enough
to hear by, but enough to kill the engine and wind rumble. Some cotton
might also do the trick.

I used the orange tapered 3M foam units, unmodified, and was very happy
with the noise protection they gave me inside a full-face helmet. I
definitely heard "relevant" noises better with the earplugs in than out,
and wore them on virtually every ride.

But I'm curious: how many people find wind noise a big problem on a
bicycle, and how many of those people haven't got a ProTour contract yet?

Snarky, I know, but that must be one heck of a headwind some of these
cyclists are facing.

Dear Ryan,

True, bats fly about as fast as we ride, and they stick their
exquisitely sensitive ears directly into the breeze:

http://animals.nationalgeographic.co...ampire-bat.jpg

But some riders may be more easily bothered by wind noise:
http://files.blog-city.com/files/A05...d_e_neuman.jpg

Your ears may be closer to this configuration:
http://www.aad.gov.au/asset/amazingp...l_elephant.jpg

To experience what may be bothering the original poster (and others),
turn your head slightly to one side or the other while riding until
you notice the wind noise increasing in one ear or the other.

You could also stick a finger up near one ear while riding and move it
around until you hear its turbulence.

Or just have someone blow gently in your ear with a straw at various
angles. (Remember, Mrs. Cousineau may exercise veto power over your
choice of assistants.)

Cheers,

Carl Fogel