In a new article in the British Medical Journal ear specialists have claimed that golfing can damage your hearing…..I said,”CAN DAMAGE YOUR HEARING!” The doctors’ suspicions were aroused when they treated a keen golfer (3 times a week for 18 months) who had unexplained tinnitus and reduced hearing. Further tests confirmed that his symptoms were similar to those experienced by people exposed to loud noises.
Based on their findings the doctors are warning keen golfers that they could be damaging their hearing. The cause of the damage is thought to be the noise associated with the sonic boom heard with modern thin-faced, Titanium clubs. One Driver singled out for particular mention was the King Cobra LD Driver, which received a lot of negative feedback on the noise it generated (read my own comments on the Cobra Driver from way back).
Despite having come in for special attention, it turns out that the King Cobra LD Driver was not the worst offender. In a series of further tests with a professional golfer, the sound levels at impact were measured for a series of popular drivers including Callaway, Nike and Mizuno. The Ping G10 came top of the class with an ear shattering 130db.
The researchers conclude that golfers should consider wearing ear plugs for their own protection. Oh great! on top of all the criticism for our choice of clothing, we’re now going to have the piss ripped out of us for wearing earplugs – there’s no justice.
Having said this I’ve got my eye on a neat pair of bright yellow, industrial ear-defenders, although I haven’t bought them just yet as I’m hoping they’ll come down further in price, during the January Sales.
Now i know why I have the ringing. The doctor never mentioned golf. he said it was from loud music.
wow a headbanger who plays golf! You don’t see many of those these days.
Blame it on golf. We don’t know how he uses his ears when not playing the sport. Sure there might be some effects on the hearing but it’s too minimal.
I think a couple companies now think about the sound the clubs make now after the noise a club makes became a feature. The Nike SQ was incredibly loud as well. I’m going to have to try out a G10 and see if that’s really true though.
Hi,
Doctor found that people can loss hearing due to playing golf. How can I protect ears from sound produced in playing golf?
I am a little skeptical on this claim… It just doesn’t seem possible that a sound that lasts for maybe a second could be damaging to our hearing. I put a blowdryer up to my head everyday.. You think that would be worse. It probably is but nobody talks about it.. 130 db’s is a lot but is it really threatening to our overall hearing? So, with having to worry about lightning, sun damage, getting hit by golf balls, etc, we have to worry about going deaf too?? God I love this game!!
Great information, thanks… I would never have thought about this myself… 40+ years of this might be the reason… like the poster above my hearing DR said the ringing was probably due to loud music… heck I haven’t listened ot loud music ion 30 years. Thanks for the info.
Those Cobra drivers are loud!
Warning: the contents of this site may be addicting!Thanks for sharing!
well new information for me. Anyways, thanks for posting, I will do more research on this and will post back the review.