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Reducing Wind Noise


16bitSprite

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I was wondering if anyone out there has some nifty tricks to block out wind noise without looking like a spaz. I do a long commute to work (approximately 90 mins) and unless there is no wind at all, the wind noise in my ears brings on fatigue a lot quicker and it becomes harder to hear traffic. I noticed the same thing when I used to do long trips on motorcycles. In those days I changed helmets to a more streamlined full face option which made a big diference. When riding my EUC I prefer to wear an open faced helmet (currently I use the bmx style helmet). I have tried the little squishy foam earplugs which help a little. Anyone know of another option that may work better. Different style of open faced helmet or something like that? Thanks

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That's a great question. Actually even with no wind there is still wind; the apparent wind you create by moving forward, unless you crawl to work, which might explain the 90 minutes ?.   I love it when I'm traveling in the same direction as the wind.  Once I match the wind speed, it's total silence, except for the sound of children screaming in horror as I approach, hey, ho, what can you do! I get then when I'm walking too! ?

Ear muffs? You know the kind that look like fuzzy headphones?  Ouu! Ouu! I know, real headphones, maybe with a bit of fuzzy stuff in the middle.  That way it would look like your listening to music, so no, dork factor, and maybe one could actually even listen to a few tunes ( on very low volume, for safety) or even  the local radio traffic reports, and laugh at everyone else's travel woes, as you glide along with warm ears. Isn't it summer down there? 

thats it. I'm off to Lidl  to buy some cheapo headphones.

thanks @16bitSprite you've helped me answer a question I didn't think to ask.

added bonus: with cans on, you can ignore all the stupid questions, and ugly comments that may come up.  Of course, you can always answers the ones you choose to answer. A win, win, win, situation.

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3 hours ago, Smoother said:

That's a great question. Actually even with no wind there is still wind; the apparent wind you create by moving forward, unless you crawl to work, which might explain the 90 minutes ?.   I love it when I'm traveling in the same direction as the wind.  Once I match the wind speed, it's total silence, except for the sound of children screaming in horror as I approach, hey, ho, what can you do! I get then when I'm walking too! ?

Ear muffs? You know the kind that look like fuzzy headphones?  Ouu! Ouu! I know, real headphones, maybe with a bit of fuzzy stuff in the middle.  That way it would look like your listening to music, so no, dork factor, and maybe one could actually even listen to a few tunes ( on very low volume, for safety) or even  the local radio traffic reports, and laugh at everyone else's travel woes, as you glide along with warm ears. Isn't it summer down there? 

thats it. I'm off to Lidl  to buy some cheapo headphones.

thanks @16bitSprite you've helped me answer a question I didn't think to ask.

added bonus: with cans on, you can ignore all the stupid questions, and ugly comments that may come up.  Of course, you can always answers the ones you choose to answer. A win, win, win, situation.

Ha ha yeah its summer here. Stinking hot summer, so a full face helmet would be the equivalent of sticking your head in an oven for 90 mins. lol. The headphones is a good idea. I did try ear buds, but it didn't seem to make a lot of difference. Maybe I need to get a hold of some of those proper noise cancelling ones. Gotta hope that they fit with the helmet. My only worry would be that I couldn't hear the beeps coming from the wheel. Thank you for a wonderful suggestion though. I've got to look into this some more.

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I see only two possibilities. Using a helmet that produces less noise or damping away the noise from the ear. If there would be electronic noise cancelation which could cancel this kind of noise selectively, that would be great, so let us know if you find something like this! I do have a similar problem with the headphones I wear when riding. They produce quite some wind noise which depends to a great extend on the position of the head. Like with a helmet I think the only possibility is to try different shapes and see which is the best for this purpose. 

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It is all about removing the turbulence arround your ear without blocking out the sound.Look to how they reduce wind noise in microphones. Maybe you will get an idea and make something yorself.

There are som remedies claiming to reduce noise for bicyclists: http://www.cat-ears.com/ I have however never tried them myself. Give us a wink if you try them. It might work equally well making some look-alikes from foam padding - maybe even better :)

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Ok so I took my existing headphones and went for a roll.  Whilst I really enjoyed the tunes, after a while I realised that i was still hearing wind noise. So there goes that theory. I'm not sure I'm man enough to wear fluffy ear muffs, but in the interests of science I'll try it. I bought my gf a pair once and she never uses them. Now where are they? Oh God! It think they were pink! GULP! ?

My iPad didn't like @Frode cat ear link, so I can't comment.

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24 minutes ago, Smoother said:

My iPad didn't like @Frode cat ear link, so I can't comment.

That page looks kind of heavy. They also have it on amazon.com. Maybe this link works better?

https://www.amazon.com/Cat-Ears-Cycling-Wind-Noise-Reducer/dp/B01H2Y4GV0/ref=sr_1_22?ie=UTF8&qid=1483945111&sr=8-22-spons&keywords=cat+ears&psc=1

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4 hours ago, Cerbera said:

What about one of those Ninja hoodie type things ? That works well keeping wind away from my ears, but still allows me to hear what traffic is doing.

FLEECE-HOOD-FACE-MASK-2.jpg

About 50% of the children cry when they see me coming.  Wearing this, it would be 100%.... I'm getting one.  ?

actually, I have one somewhere. Never used it.  Flying home tomorrow for a week.  I'll have to look for it. Shame I can't bring Lassie on the plane with me.

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9 minutes ago, Smoother said:

About 50% of the children cry when they see me coming.  Wearing this, it would be 100%.... I'm getting one.  ?

actually, I have one somewhere. Never used it.  Flying home tomorrow for a week.  I'll have to look for it. Shame I can't bring Lassie on the plane with me.

Yes - added bonus that, I can confirm it does make children cry, especially if you wear it with mirror shades so they can't see any of your face. But it's still less terrorist-stylee than a balaclava, so a few children in tears is a small price to pay for being warm in winter on your wheel :)

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Incidentally - it is pissing down with rain here, but with this hoodie, and a decent pair of shades, I have just ridden my MS3 into town on a shopping mission, and it kept me toasty warm on a cold and horrible day,and thanks to it (and the shades), not a drop of water touched my face in the whole journey. And I could hear the traffic. Does make your sunglasses go misty if you have the mouth cover bit too high though. 

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On 9 January 2017 at 4:26 PM, Cerbera said:

Yes - added bonus that, I can confirm it does make children cry, especially if you wear it with mirror shades so they can't see any of your face. But it's still less terrorist-stylee than a balaclava, so a few children in tears is a small price to pay for being warm in winter on your wheel :)

Hoodie and shades.  I'm picturing the una-bomber, ohhhh sinister! 

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I just tried placing an arbitrary rather small peace of soft foam on my headphones and it had a quite astounding effect. Up to 20km/h the wind noise is gone, I didn't try higher speeds though.

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5 hours ago, Mono said:

I just tried placing an arbitrary rather small peace of soft foam on my headphones and it had a quite astounding effect. Up to 20km/h the wind noise is gone, I didn't try higher speeds though.

Pictures please.  I'd like to see how you did that. ?

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Oh yes! @frode I like that one a lot. I would REALLY wheel wearing an outfit like that.  Yahoo?, eBay? Aliexpress? Where do I get one?

@steve454 good catch with the fangs. I didn't see them 'till you mentioned them.

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