Ear Plugs Anyone?

[lizard]

I always wear earplugs when riding. Started riding after knowing I had hearing loss, so I started with 32dB foam plugs. Then I found some 33 dB foam plugs ($35/100 shipped IIRC) and a box lasts at least a year (figure 4 days/pair is 14 months). I can still hear traffic, horns, sirens, unusual bike noises...so I feel that safety isn't compromised. I recently went with Big Ear brand custom molded ear plugs and they are great so far! Easier to get in place, don't tend to move around and lose the seal when I put my helmet on. I wear them riding, cutting the grass (never tried that with foam plugs), and anytime I think it would help (operating table saw, circular saw, air compressor, gas weedeater, etc). I think just having "custom made" ear plugs makes me more aware of situations when I might benefit from using them. I also ordered their BE-1C custom molded stereo earphone/plugs. I hope they will be here in the next couple of weeks!

I got mine (and my wife got hers) from a VFRD member (WERA803) who is a Big Ear Consultant. They aren't cheap (stereo earphones were $299, plain plugs were $50 or $60 I forget which), but I want to preserve the hearing I have and the ear plugs seem to be worth the cost to me. I'll let you know about the stereo earphones once they come in and I have some time to evaluate them.

Steve

[DougFromIndy]

:biggrin: I wear earplugs almost always, if they get stuck in just use your ignition key (be careful fool) and you can get them out in one second, works well for me, lol

[VFR4Lee]

:biggrin: I wear earplugs almost always, if they get stuck in just use your ignition key (be careful fool) and you can get them out in one second, works well for me, lol

Or a fish hook? Be extra careful fool. :laugh:

[Tightwad]

I heard mixed reviews on the Quiet Rider. I ordered one last week, waiting for it to arrive. I hope it helps, my helmet is noisy as can be(to me).

Let us know how you like it. I've been curious about this for a while.

The Quiet Rider made a big difference on the long trip. I was able to hear my MP3 player, even with ear plugs in, without an amp boosting it. I found that it is a little abrasive around the neck (not bad, but can be annoying). The biggest shortfall is that it makes getting the helmet on and off harder. I have even considered a short-ride helmet that won't have it.

[elizilla]

I heard mixed reviews on the Quiet Rider. I ordered one last week, waiting for it to arrive. I hope it helps, my helmet is noisy as can be(to me).

Let us know how you like it. I've been curious about this for a while.

The Quiet Rider made a big difference on the long trip. I was able to hear my MP3 player, even with ear plugs in, without an amp boosting it. I found that it is a little abrasive around the neck (not bad, but can be annoying). The biggest shortfall is that it makes getting the helmet on and off harder. I have even considered a short-ride helmet that won't have it.

I used a Quiet Rider on my long trip last year. It helped with the helmet noise, and it was warmer in the cold weather I had for most of the trip. I liked it in spite of it making the helmet a bit harder to put on and take off.

The big problem was, it picked up smells. This smell thing was not something I would have thought of, but it got really gross in a hurry. For instance, one night I stayed in a motel where they had sprayed too much of that nasty motel air freshener, enough that the perfume had settled on the furniture. I set my helmet on the table, the Quiet Rider picked up the smell, and I had to wash it three nights in a row before it stopped stinking.

But this was an earplug thread, right? I've bought a number of boxes over the years. Used all but one of them up, so they definitely got thoroughly tried. The Purafits are kinda hard, but not intolerable. The Spark Plugs are softer but they can be difficult to insert, especially in hot weather. The Howard Leight Max are soft but they push hard to expand and I feel like my ear canals are being stretched, they feel huge. The Howard Leight MaxLites created such an airtight seal that I could feel my eardrums popping when I pulled them out, which was painful - this is the only box I didn't use up.

The ones I use now, I like so well that I'm on my third box. They are E-A-RSofts. You get a choice of colors, "Blast" or "Yellow Neon", and a choice of two sizes so you can pick the one that fits your ears best. The NRR is 33. They are far more comfortable than any of the others I have tried, and as quiet as any. They're so soft I can hardly feel them. The one area they don't do as well as the others, is that I can't reuse them as many times before they won't compress/expand as well. So I tend to use the boxes up more quickly, since I'm replacing my ear plugs more often.