Eardrum injury any significant risk

[Herman]

When I used to water ski I seem to recall there was a fair amount of talk about ear drum injury, basically smacking the side of your head on the water hard enough to to pressurise or blow out the eardrum during a crash. In fact, ear protection was the main reason I chose to wear a close fitting helmet when I first started kitesurfing, coupled with the fact it is often cold where I ride and it is nice to have the warmth.

In my view, helmets are a personal choice, and I am happy, but surprised, to say I have never heard of anyone injuring an eardrum kiting. (There is a joke in there somewhere!)

I am just curious to know if anybody has any actual feedback on the eardrum injury risk associated with kitesurfing?

[HALF]

I am not sure about eardrum rupturing, however some big waves can hit you hard sometimes and it does hurt.
Then there is the issue with surfers ear, the water and wind will cause the ear canal to close with time(and the fix is an unpleasant operation that cuts parts of the growing bone), and to avoid it its good to have some protection (I use a hat that covers the ears, and sometimes https://surfears.com/ earplugs).

[fluidity]

I'm sure it is a risk. Surfer's ear I'm not so sure about, once you have the basics you don't spend much time in the water, and as you improve your technique your head is usually out of the water even landing.
Helmets for protecting against head injury do cut off a little awareness and are more useful for takeoffs, landings and crowded conditions.. which you should avoid anywhere. If you do crash enough to need a helmet, you should already be wearing an impact vest.
For my safety, I wear an impact vest and a harness I modified to be sliding and seat style. a harness being dragged high over the ribs seems to be the most common injury I'm aware of. Seat harness is a little irritating at first but easy enough to get used to in time.
And jumping next to the shore. Very impressive for onlookers, but so many things can go so very badly wrong.

[Kiwibayer]

Sure it is. I blew mine out completely a few years back and so did Marc Jacobs and quite a few others I know off.

[Herman]

Sorry to hear that, kiwibayer, hope you and the other guys are ok now. I know I have face planted so hard that I kept my eyes shut until I was sure I had not burst an eyeball, fortunately it was just a stinger.

Seems strange I have never seen it talked about before. I am now thinking ignorance may be bliss.

Thank you and everybody else for their input Regards Herman.

[downunder]

Quite a few of us just use ear plugs. Cheapy ones. Personally, I cut a plug in 3 pieces, works for me.

Helmet will not protect you from bacteria going in due to bad water.
Or just water is enough to get the ear infection which is ten times worse with hole in a drum.

D.

[edt]

broken them a bunch of times both wakeboarding and kiting, my eardrums are wrecked. I have to wear ear protection now every sesh. All it takes is one good hit on the side. You don't crash as hard kiting as wakeboarding but we ride longer so the risk is about the same. helmets definitely protect the ears and even help with surfer's ear. If you wear an mp3 player on the water that's actually good to protect the ears too. I know there are no real studies out there but take it from me personal experience anything you have covering the ear either in the ear or over it is going to protect you and it does work.

[sarc]

There are cheap lycra bandannas that cyclists use to cover their head or neck. I roll over my hears they offer just the right protection both surfer's ear (I have it but not so bad) and eardrum rupture (my friend was out of the water for a few weeks).

[dejavu]

No debate. Should always wear a helmet that protects your ears as well. It just makes sense right!

[downunder]

^
That is very dismissive. Are you MattV?

Here is a thought for you, the standard snowboarding helmet is about halfa kilo. Your head is about 3-4 kg. That is how much increase?
Further more, if u are like 100kg guy, than the neck strength is not in the same league as 55kg person. The weight is still about 400-450 grams.

Now, which helmet u using?

And than the environment. Which one is it? A Tropical, Arctic, which one?

And the list goes on...