Of course, a lot of information that we receive is aimed at frightening us and allowing us to buy things.
But the fact that our hobby usually generates more hearing load than a game of chess, that is clear. And what that noise does - especially for convertibles and motorcyclists - with your hearing?
We had never thought about that until we saw the sign 'today free hearing test' at the local Schoonenberg hearing comfort establishment.
Forty years of driving without hearing protection. What did that do to my hearing?
Yvonne Curré's obedience turned out to be calm and competent. She was the first to note that it is fairly normal for a 60-year-old to have less sharp hearing than a 12-year-old. And the fact that many 20-year-olds have a worse hearing than many sixty-year-olds, is because of the parties they visit.
All in all, wind noise, the ticking of valves and the roar of exhausts had indeed left their mark:
The clearly visible dip in the graphs was with 4.000 Herz, the area that is characteristic of mechanical noise and wind noise. To clarify the dip, the picture on the diagram is of a slightly more hearing impaired person: As this audiogram is, a hearing aid would have been recommended.
After all, the limit lies on an average hearing loss of 35 dB or more measured over the 1000, 2000 and 4000 Hz.
Mrs. Curré reported that the hearing loss might require some extra concentration when hearing people, but that a hearing aid was certainly not needed.
After such clear information, the joke: "What do you say?" Seemed inappropriate.
We said goodbye with a sensible final remark from Mrs. Curré: “Hearing protection is important. Of course, Schoonenberg also sells hearing protection. But I think your kind of people often go to trade fairs, there are often offers. And if the trip and fuel costs are not counted, that can also be useful. But we are just everywhere near you ”.
Craftsmanship with a decent dose of commercial thinking.
Great!