Earplugs on the river? bad idea?
Printed From: ProfessorPaddle.com
Category: General
Forum Name: Whitewater Forum
Forum Discription: Open Discussion Forum. Whitewater related subjects only
URL: http://www.professorpaddle.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10901
Printed Date: 02 May 2025 at 3:59pm
Topic: Earplugs on the river? bad idea?
Posted By: not-very-clever
Subject: Earplugs on the river? bad idea?
Date Posted: 01 Jun 2011 at 6:48pm
|
I recently got some custom molded earplugs for work and I have been wearing them on the river to keep water out of my ears. They are awesome, they seem to keep my ears warmer too.
I was wondering what some opinions are about wearing earplugs, whitewater is soo loud that it is hard to hear anything anyways .
Anywho, it could present some safety concerns about not being able to hear my paddling partners, or a raft hauling downstream, or a jet boat coming upstream.
I can still hear okay, but things are definately muffled. At least I am not wearing head phones listening to music. (but that does sound like fun)
noseplugs were a phase that i grew out of, but I think that earplugs might be a permenant thing for me. do other people use them?
|
Replies:
Posted By: water wacko
Date Posted: 01 Jun 2011 at 8:19pm
|
nvc, i've used earplugs since i started paddling, pretty much. 10+ years in a hardshell has given me some calcium deposits (70% left ear, 80% right). I wore them religiously from the time I really started playboating until now. I still use them playboating and occasionally creeking, but since I started paddling harder stuff I care more about being able to hear ALL the beta. I figure, if I really know the line because I heard everything I won't flip. Works most of the time. ;) I know other hardcore boaters who wear them no matter what. I like noseplugs for playboating, too. ------------- "Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." ~Howard Thurman |
Posted By: PowWrangler
Date Posted: 01 Jun 2011 at 10:58pm
| Same here. Always wear them when in the playboat, never in the creekboat. |
Posted By: olyyakker
Date Posted: 02 Jun 2011 at 5:25am
| DOC earplugs are the BOMB! I wear the vented ones SCUBA diving and whenever kayaking. You can hear perfectly well and they will prevent you from having that painful surgery where they peel back your ear and have to drill out the calcium buildup in your external auditory canal. |
Posted By: scottrichardson
Date Posted: 02 Jun 2011 at 9:04am
| Doc's Proplugs. I use them because water in my ears can make me dizzy. Plus, I don't want that same surgery everyone keeps mentioning. The vented ones let plenty of sound in so I use them all the time as opposed to not when creeking. |
Posted By: James
Date Posted: 02 Jun 2011 at 9:42am
Posted By: fiddleyak
Date Posted: 02 Jun 2011 at 10:04am
|
Putting in my earplugs is as routine as pulling on my sprayskirt. I wear the non-vented poke-in kind that you can get at any drugstore. Years of paddling cold water without earplugs has left me with bad hearing and recurrent ear problems. I urge everyone to take these precautions. I still have not gotten a definitive answer on the dangers of wearing non-vented earplugs. I've never had a problem, the plugs seem to just pop out rather that pressurizing my ear canal when I go deep off a waterfall. ------------- |
Posted By: ChristianKnight
Date Posted: 02 Jun 2011 at 10:39am
|
I'm right there with Ben. After training at freestyle through the fall, winter and early spring down in Eugene, I developed pretty dramatic exostosis in both ears. (I'm sure I had been developing them for some time, but I think those seven months of playboating five days a week accelerated the process).
And like Ben, I don't buy the $15 pair of Docs. I just go to the drug store and buy a four pair of silicon plugs for $3 or $4. I feel I can hear everything just fine with them in, since people are usually yelling above the roar of the whitewater anyway. A while back, I wrote an article on a med student who was touring around the country, checking paddler's ears. He concluded that most paddlers have some form of exostosis in their ears. (Exostosis are bony growths. In this thread, Brett Barton referred to them as calcium deposits. They are, in fact, bony growths). Exostoses are bad for two reasons: 1.) if you don't prevent them, eventually, they'll cover your entire ear canal and 2.) they trap water in your ear, which can get infected. For that article I mentioned, I interviewed Clay Wright who had exostoses in both ears. At one point, he got water stuck in his ear and couldn't get it out. Eventually, his ear got so infected that it burst his ear drum, which he said caused vertigo and severe pain. He ended up flying to California, where a surgeon chiseled out the bony growths in both ears. This doctor's entire business was based on this surgery, which he performs regularly on surfers. Now, Clay wears ear plug, a swim cap and skull cap, while kayaking. Even in the summer. He is paranoid, he said. ------------- Catch your eddies, Christian |
Posted By: up4air
Date Posted: 02 Jun 2011 at 1:29pm
|
Those silicon ones are also good for when certain individuals feel the need to bless everyone with their "singing" into the mic from sometime past 1am til it starts to get light. Oh wait. I was wearing earplugs and it was still loud.
I have it too (the bone growths) from surfing in cold water. Sometimes having earplugs affects balance more than anything, but my helmet also keeps my ears pretty warm because it covers that area. NVC what style helmet do you use? ------------- More water, please. |
Posted By: James
Date Posted: 02 Jun 2011 at 2:55pm
|
Originally posted by up4air when certain individuals feel the need to bless everyone with their "singing" into the mic from sometime past 1am til it starts to get light. All I can say is, had I been there an hour before that all started I would have made sure it never happened. Unfortunately I showed up a bit too late and was unable to prevent such a display of vocal talent.  |
Posted By: jP
Date Posted: 02 Jun 2011 at 3:15pm
|
I've only been wearing them since '08. My exostosis is pretty advanced. Can't find a pair of Doc's that fits well- water finds its way in and the plugs trap it.
Tried adding swim cap and skull cap but its just too much sh*t to wear. Add elbow pads, and the plugs seem like the gear that broke this camel's back. This is becoming a disincentive to playboat much. Yes its true I have always had a loud voice, and river-communications have helped shaped that, but I'm also losing my hearing a little, which is partly why I seem to have little "volume control". Can't afford to break out the power drill and shove it these ears, and don't want to anyway. Just gonna try to ride it out, shouldn't be much longer anyway. This winter I needed a cheap alternative to a drysuit. $20 and the right timing hooked me up with a hooded wetsuit. That thing is WAY better than earplugs- it takes an extraordinary douche to get water in there with this wetsuit on. I'd like to find a stand alone hood that would do the same thing but be interchangeable with whatever I wanna wear. Jet boats coming upstream? You oughtta hear that and see it. Rafts from behind? Every paddled should cultivate Eyes In The Back Of Their Heads. If rafts sneak up on you it means your awareness needs to broaden. You don't need ears for that. Hearing Beta? Well that is important. You can take then out momentarily in an eddy. Tried the gum, but when I landed big bro flat one time, I blew bubbles out of my ears and all the Portland boaters laughed at me. Now Bubilicious wants to sponsor me but I told them to fu*k off. I'm more of a Slim Jim kinda guy. Or Cheetos. If Chester Cheetah wants to sponsor me, I'm "all ears". Stick them in there and the water will stay out. Your ears will have an Orange stain, however. ------------- 🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋 |
Posted By: iron monkey
Date Posted: 04 Jun 2011 at 11:05pm
|
Posted By: not-very-clever
Date Posted: 05 Jun 2011 at 12:15pm
|
my most popular thread, maybe i will be moving out of the viener schnitzel catagory soon |
Posted By: Blair
Date Posted: 07 Jun 2011 at 4:21am
|
JP man, that post was awesome! ------------- |