Flooded Eardrums

07
Dec
2010
By

I really can’t figure this one out, and I need your help with something.  As you know, I’m cycling Florida for a few weeks.  Now, I’ve cycled in very hot and humid conditions and all sort of weather that is similar to that of Florida….but each ride I’ve taken here, something very strange has happened.  I don’t mean to gross you out but around the 30 minute mark of each ride, I start getting beads of sweat rolling off my face and into my eardrums….thereby knocking out the sound from my ear bud.  And as I mentioned yesterday, you know how I like riding with my iPod.

I can’t figure it out….I’ve never had something like this happen to me before.  It was happening on each and every ride and was driving me crazy up until I outsmarted it.  I found an old cloth in the house that we’re staying at and turned it into my headband.  It’s fixed the problem, but I’m still baffled as to why my face picked right now to start sweating and dripping into my ears.

If you have the answer, please let me know.

While searching for a picture to go along with this post, I came across this interesting product.  It’s called SlipStreamz and it’s purpose is to decrease the wind noise while out riding and allow you to easily hear sounds and listen to your iPod.  Looks to me like it might also prevent the sweat from getting in there as well.

Enjoy Your Ride

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  • http://www.danielcarruthers.com Daniel

    challenge: can you train on your bike without listening to music? I often train without an ipod (use it sometimes) and find it somewhat more meditative.

  • stef

    Have you tried being fitted for earmold for you headphones? They snap onto your ipod style headphones. I was an audiology major in college. Starkey Labortories who makes hearing aids also makes earmolds. They are fit to you ear canal and because of that there is no air leak which means you probably wouldnt get any sweat in them. Plus with no air leak it also means you wont turn up your volume as high thus saving your hearing in the long run ;) Here is the website: http://www.starkey.com/products/audio-music

  • http://twitter.com/asmathews asmathews

    I use a small mp3 player that has an external speaker. It lasts many hours, and I clip it to my jersey/jacket collar on my right side. I prefer that to wearing earbuds/headphones.

  • http://www.lloydlemons.com/cycling Lloyd Lemons

    I can’t ride with ear buds at all for that very reason. But also, riding on the road with ear buds is illegal in Florida.

    • http://www.lovingthebike.com Darryl

      Illegal? They better not catch me while I’m here riding in Florida. There are so many more important laws that should be around…..not sure why they would want to create this one.

  • Eric Hutchins

    Cant be of any help, All my riding has been done in areas where there is just too much traffic to think about listening to music.

    I run with headphones and definitely have that problem in Houston in the summer but THE INSIDE OF MY EARS SWEAT its so freakin hot here!

  • http://taiwanincycles.blogspot.com/ Andrew

    I have couliflower ear and live in a very humid environment. Earbuds frequently pop out and try to wrap themselves around my front hub.

    I now ride with a great set of Sennheiser PMX 80 (round the back of the neck) headphones. They stay put and stay out of the way. They are not supported by the cartilage of the ear for comfort. I wish they were more available.

    I am wondering if the temp change is causing both the skin and the rubber earbud gripper to change shape at different rates. Just a thought.

    • http://www.lovingthebike.com Darryl

      Could be….thanks for your comments and suggestion.

  • http://www.chrisgomezphoto.com Chris

    Believe it or not it could be something as simple as the way you’re inserting the ear buds into your ears. I read an article a while back while I was writing up reviews on headphones for a friend of mines dj site and it basically said that a good majority of people don’t put in their ear buds correctly. Now it could just be the type of earphones/ear buds your’e using as well. I vowed never to use Sony earbuds ever again b/c I would run into issues w/ them falling out during my long runs. I tried inserting them differently and nada, the problem still happened after a certain distance, whether I was sweating or not.

    The ones I’m using now and to this day haven’t had ANY issues w/ them (had them for over a year now) are the Shure SE420′s. Pricey yes, but worth every penny. I was using the Apple In Ears for a while but broke them somehow. Those are pretty decent ones for the price you pay. The standard apple ear phones you get w/ every apple device you buy are craptastic.

    If you do end up getting new ear phones or in ear head phones make sure you’re inserting them correctly, crazy I know but worth researching if you plan on making an investment.

    Sorry for the rant, I’ve had a TON of coffee today.

    • http://www.lovingthebike.com Darryl

      Thanks for the tip. I keep telling myself that I should buy some good quality earbuds, but I keep on using the ones that came with my iPod. If I keep getting water in there, they’ll stop working soon and I’ll be forced to go buy some new ones.

  • http://www.lifes2wheelbalance.com Tony

    Darryl, It happens to me all the time but with the iPhone headset. What usually happens to me is the sweat will roll down the earbuds down to the control button on the headset itself. Then all of a sudden it will start skipping songs, pausing on its own and even calling people. Once I switched to a NON apple earbud set, everything was fine.

    • http://www.lovingthebike.com Darryl

      Hmmmm…..Interesting. If it keeps happening, I’ll definitely have to get some new earbuds.

  • http://bicyclelab.com victor

    Darryl, Dont know about your flood problem but I have tried the slipstreams and similar products. Maybe its just me but I could not get the things to stay positioned correctly. They we really more of a bother than anything.

    I wonder if wearing ear buds while exercising is bad for your ears because of the sweat.

    • http://www.lovingthebike.com Darryl

      Yeah, the Slipstreamz look to me like they’d be a bit of a challenge getting positioned correctly.

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Question: I am using the homebrew sugar formulations (sometimes added to green tea).  I am also trying to wean myself off 1/2 dose adrenalean ”lip tonic delivery system” (biorhythm brand- caffeine, hoodia g, synephrine, yohimbe) capsule for energy.

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