Who Wears Earplugs, And Why?

[monkeyspanner]

Wearing them is a must if you value your hearing. It takes time but by opting not to wear you will irreversibly damage (tinnitus) your hearing. There is a really good article in the UK bike magazine recently, i will try and dig it out and put the statistics up for you to see why wearing them is a must.

I wear a pair no matter the journey. I have a pair for quick commutes into town that are preformed rubber, scored a box of them from a nightclub i worked at years ago. I have foam back-ups that i carry with me no matter the journey. For longer rides i have a pair of acoustic moulded earplugs. These allow me to hear emergency services, listen to my MP3 player without the wind causing severe damage. These are expensive but are amazing at help prevent fatigue or ear ache as they are moulded to the shape of my ear.

[vulgar1]

I always wear earplugs when I ride. Have since the beginning. I started wearing them because I have sensitive hearing and the wind noise actually bothered me a lot. I love riding with them in. Makes me feel a lot less tired after a day on the bike.

[Vtcyclist]

I've used hearing protectors (over ear or foam plugs) for racing (off road, mx), road riding, using power equipment, spectating, concerts, even driving sometimes, for over 40 years. I am 59. My ears still have a constant tone.

Now I always wear foam plugs on the bike. After years of wearing the yellow E-A-R Classics, I've recently started using 3M E-A-R Soft. I find they don't put as much pressure on my ear canals and seal better. And I get 200 pairs for $20+ bucks at Amazon. They don't reuse as well as the harder yellow classics but do a better job of sealing out the noise.

I have never listened to music while riding. It seems to me it would be distracting, horrible quality, and a PIA the have wires plumbed all over. Each to his own, eh?

I guess the alternative would be to ride a Gold Wing with the surround sound and huge windscreen in front?

http://www.amazon.com/3M-E-A-R-Earplugs-Yellow-Neon-200-Pack/dp/B000J05EYI/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1379594696&sr=8-3

[2thdr]

I've used hearing protectors (over ear or foam plugs) for racing (off road, mx), road riding, using power equipment, spectating, concerts, even driving sometimes, for over 40 years. I am 59. My ears still have a constant tone.

Now I always wear foam plugs on the bike. After years of wearing the yellow E-A-R Classics, I've recently started using 3M E-A-R Soft. I find they don't put as much pressure on my ear canals and seal better. And I get 200 pairs for $20+ bucks at Amazon. They don't reuse as well as the harder yellow classics but do a better job of sealing out the noise.

I have never listened to music while riding. It seems to me it would be distracting, horrible quality, and a PIA the have wires plumbed all over. Each to his own, eh?

I guess the alternative would be to ride a Gold Wing with the surround sound and huge windscreen in front?

http://www.amazon.com/3M-E-A-R-Earplugs-Yellow-Neon-200-Pack/dp/B000J05EYI/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1379594696&sr=8-3

I've been using the EAR Taperfit 2 yellow ones for quite a while and like how they fit my smallish ear canals. Is there a "soft" version that is different?

BTW with Sena Bluetooth there is no need for wires to listen to my music all day, and for me it is anything but distracting. Especially makes the Interslab over to good riding roads more tolerable...

[Vtcyclist]

2thdr wrote: "I've been using the EAR Taperfit 2 yellow ones for quite a while and like how they fit my smallish ear canals. Is there a "soft" version that is different?"

I don't think so, but the "soft" is part of the description so I repeated it. They are soft compared to the older Classic yellow ones I used. I too have smallish ear canals and like the taper fit.

I'll look into the bluetooth thing. I've wondered what having some sound would be like.

[ridered]

Has anyone tried some in-ear active noise cancelling headphones? I wear the foam ones on long trips (I get them from the shop at work), but like music for long freeway runs. I have some cheap ones that seal out a good deal of noise, but I think some active noise cancelling in-ears would be the ticket. But before I invest the cash, was wondering if they work. I was thinking of combining this with a communication head set down the road.

http://en-us.sennheiser.com/headset-headphones-smart-phones-mobile-cxc-700

My hearing is already damaged, and my father and grand mother wear hearing aids. My wife also suffered hearing loss (non noise related) and has constant loud tinnitus. she almost completely lost her hearing in one ear. Trust me, protect your hearing. The thought of never hearing your children, music etc. is scary.

[Rush2112]

Has anyone tried some in-ear active noise cancelling headphones?

I've used Audio-Technica ATH-ANC23 QuietPoint active noise canceling ear buds for a couple of years. They work well on planes, mowing the lawn, and on the bike they can fool me into thinking the engine is not running. They are highly rated and not too expensive (~$70).

At speed on the bike the frequency and volume of the wind noise is difficult to overcome. It does cancel out most of it but it is replaced with a lower frequency hollow whoosh... hard to describe. I have damaged hearing from an explosion next to my head (car battery) 30 yrs ago, so I am engaged in hearing protection to keep what little I have left. On long rides I feel I'm replacing one type of noise with another, albeit a quieter lower pitched noise, and I end the rides with my ears ringing loudly anyway. I have not tried them with stock windscreen which I just switched back to after using the ZG DB due to high level on wind noise.

This recent trip to Arkansas I switched back to soft foam plugs and had better overall noise reduction than the noise canceling earbuds... I am still looking into over/on the ear noise canceling headphones to see if I can break them down and fit them in my Shoei RF1100 ear holes.

[ridered]

I have the same helmet, so let me know if you are successful with that. The thought has crossed my mind before. I wish Shoei would just make a helmet with a good integrated sound reduction system.

[2thdr]

My experience just with in the ear earbuds (S-plug) is that they do not seal well enough to provide the same level of protection from wind noise as good quality foam plugs or custom plugs (for those that have them). There are expensive options out there that incorporate a quality earbud speaker (driver) embedded in a custom moulded plug. Maybe you could get the same done with a noise cancelling set.

[luvtoleanit]

add to that the difficulty of getting the helmet on and off while using them. I recently bought some Shure SE215's to use with my Sena SMH10R. No matter what I do, they move a little bit when putting on my helmet breaking the solid seal. Off the bike they seal perfectly and are outstanding at noise cancellation. I've been using them at 50% volume when mowing and I can barely hear the mower, weed eater, or blower.

I do tend to get perfect fitting helmets that don't move around on me while in use, exactly how they are supposed to fit. I remain dedicated to foamies (best option and seal, and the best comfort available) and Sena ear speakers mounted in the helmet.

[Rush2112]

My experience just with in the ear earbuds (S-plug) is that they do not seal well enough to provide the same level of protection from wind noise as good quality foam plugs or custom plugs (for those that have them). There are expensive options out there that incorporate a quality earbud speaker (driver) embedded in a custom moulded plug. Maybe you could get the same done with a noise cancelling set.

I agree. I tried to improve the seal on my noise canceling set by replacing the supplied ear canal cushions with foam plugs with a center channel hole to allow the sound waves from the drivers to reach the ear drum... I think they were called gum drop cushions, or something like that. This is the best I've been able to achieve to this point... still not where I want to be.

[Duc2V4]

I have used and enjoy the fit and feel and "customization" I got from these earplugs. I still have a set of them but will probably order some more soon. I got them from http://www.earplugsonline.com/ They are not cheap but they are probably the best that I have used, right now I'm using the last set of the "Hearos" that I have. As far as why I wear them, I uploaded a pamphlet from the House Research Institute on NIHL (Noise Induced Hearing Loss), it's in the downloads section under article scans, that should give several reasons. Although I have ridden quite a few times without them, but that's only been with my Schuberth C3 helmet, I cannot ride in my RF-1100 Shoei without them in.

[YoshiHNS]

Earplugs-sm.jpg

With the word 'natural' in there, I can't imagine anything else in that box besides two fake index fingers.

The pricing doesn't look too bad on that, other than the pricing doesn't scale at all.

[Duc2V4]

Earplugs-sm.jpg

With the word 'natural' in there, I can't imagine anything else in that box besides two fake index fingers.

The pricing doesn't look too bad on that, other than the pricing doesn't scale at all.

In comparison to the "bulk" buys of the foam plugs, the pricing is definitely higher per set, and I agree they really don't scale the cost that well. On that note, I do not use them as a set, I take one and break that out into two pieces and now I have doubled the number of plugs I get to use. This is what makes them somewhat "customizable", use as much material as you want to regulate how much sound you filter out.

[2thdr]

Earplugs-sm.jpg

With the word 'natural' in there, I can't imagine anything else in that box besides two fake index fingers.

The pricing doesn't look too bad on that, other than the pricing doesn't scale at all.

In comparison to the "bulk" buys of the foam plugs, the pricing is definitely higher per set, and I agree they really don't scale the cost that well. On that note, I do not use them as a set, I take one and break that out into two pieces and now I have doubled the number of plugs I get to use. This is what makes them somewhat "customizable", use as much material as you want to regulate how much sound you filter out.

Just ordered the sample pack to try them...

[polbit]

Hate to bring an old thread back to life, but it was an eye opener for me. I've ridden bikes for 20 years, and never even given ear plugs a passing thought. My hearing is still good thank goodness, but since I haven't had a bike for 4 years, the noise has been bothering me a bit at highway speeds. Got myself few different types of ear plugs to try out, and wow, what a difference. Feels like I could ride 1,000 miles with no fatigue. Little too quiet at slower speeds, but overall, thanks for this thread!

On a side note, above 6,500rpm my VFR sounds way worse through the ear plugs...

[seamus]

Hate to bring an old thread back to life, but it was an eye opener for me. I've ridden bikes for 20 years, and never even given ear plugs a passing thought. My hearing is still good thank goodness, but since I haven't had a bike for 4 years, the noise has been bothering me a bit at highway speeds. Got myself few different types of ear plugs to try out, and wow, what a difference. Feels like I could ride 1,000 miles with no fatigue. Little too quiet at slower speeds, but overall, thanks for this thread!

On a side note, above 6,500rpm my VFR sounds way worse through the ear plugs...

What NRR are you using?

I found some low 20s NRR silicone plugs that I like much better than the usual 28+ NRR. Takes the sting out but doesn't mute everything as much.

[Guest]

...Late to the thread...I have hearing damage and tinnitus. I use Hearos 33 on my bikes and at concerts and other loud events. Suppose I've adjusted and accommodated for them, but I really like the quiet and when my VFR hits VTEC range the sound is still awesome with no rattling or ugly noises in my ears.

Probably covered already in the thread, but with foam plugs, personally I twist them, and insert them while pulling the back of my ear up and back to get deep insertion in the ear canal. When I don't get it right I do get bad sounds and it's annoying and arguably worse than not wearing them at all (my experience with my ears only).

[Beck]

Scary thing about hearing loss from wind noise when riding is that it sneaks up on you. You wouldn't know that your hearing's being damaged till you start noticing that you've been asking people to repeat what they are saying to you for some time. That's exactly what happened to me after riding for many years without hearing protection. I just started noticing within something like a year and a half that I've been asking people to repeat themselves more and more. Since then (about two years ago), I always wore hearing protection when I ride. No tinnitus, but just hard to hear people not directly talking towards me.... Good thing is, despite what people say, it seems like a good part of the hearing I lost seems to have come back. So I think there could be some amount of healing/recovery if you catch it early enough. I don't ask people to repeat themselves when they talk to me anymore......, unless it's just me kind of adjusting to the hearing loss in some way?

[signal]

I am definitely considering earplugs. I use uClear in helmet system, which is not an in-ear communicator. I wish to buy some custom earplugs with vents in them so it helps allow some noise/pressure through. I am considering the DB Blockers, those looks real nice, about $125 a set, custom made, they have many styles including those with vents.........anyone know something similar I could look at? i want to be able to hear things for safety, be able to hear stuff through my uClear communicator while riding, yet reduce all the wind noise. I also just purchased a MRA Vario Touring screen which I think is going to help big time.

[polbit]

Hate to bring an old thread back to life, but it was an eye opener for me. I've ridden bikes for 20 years, and never even given ear plugs a passing thought. My hearing is still good thank goodness, but since I haven't had a bike for 4 years, the noise has been bothering me a bit at highway speeds. Got myself few different types of ear plugs to try out, and wow, what a difference. Feels like I could ride 1,000 miles with no fatigue. Little too quiet at slower speeds, but overall, thanks for this thread!

On a side note, above 6,500rpm my VFR sounds way worse through the ear plugs...

What NRR are you using?

I found some low 20s NRR silicone plugs that I like much better than the usual 28+ NRR. Takes the sting out but doesn't mute everything as much.

I'm not sure what brand they are, but a while back I got a bunch of dense blue foam 35s that were supposedly the most comfortable on the market (and they seem to be), and I also have some no names yellow foam 25s. I just tried the blue ones yesterday, will try the yellow ones next time. I've also ordered Moldex Comets 25 that are ribbed - I've read a lot of good things about them.

[tbzep]

Has anyone tried some in-ear active noise cancelling headphones?

I've used Audio-Technica ATH-ANC23 QuietPoint active noise canceling ear buds for a couple of years. They work well on planes, mowing the lawn, and on the bike they can fool me into thinking the engine is not running. They are highly rated and not too expensive (~$70).

At speed on the bike the frequency and volume of the wind noise is difficult to overcome. It does cancel out most of it but it is replaced with a lower frequency hollow whoosh... hard to describe. I have damaged hearing from an explosion next to my head (car battery) 30 yrs ago, so I am engaged in hearing protection to keep what little I have left. On long rides I feel I'm replacing one type of noise with another, albeit a quieter lower pitched noise, and I end the rides with my ears ringing loudly anyway. I have not tried them with stock windscreen which I just switched back to after using the ZG DB due to high level on wind noise.

This recent trip to Arkansas I switched back to soft foam plugs and had better overall noise reduction than the noise canceling earbuds... I am still looking into over/on the ear noise canceling headphones to see if I can break them down and fit them in my Shoei RF1100 ear holes.

I'm surprised they work as well as they do. The noise cancelling electronics are located in the little control box that houses the battery. The sounds it picks up in your jacket or tank bag are not the same as the sounds in your helmet due to their different location relative to the air stream. You are hearing the generated 180 degrees out of phase sound waves that are meant to cancel sound heard by the control box, which is not the same as the noise inside your helmet.

[spud786]

I thought noise canceling had little to no effect on high frequency(air noise), just low frequency sound.

[polbit]

I thought noise canceling had little to no effect on high frequency(air noise), just low frequency sound.

It's true that most are designed to maximize lower frequencies canceling (like Bose 20i that can drop 160Hz by 45 dB - specifically for airplane engines), but they still drop 15-20 dB from 1 - 20 KHz.

[Rush2112]

Has anyone tried some in-ear active noise cancelling headphones?

I've used Audio-Technica ATH-ANC23 QuietPoint active noise canceling ear buds for a couple of years. They work well on planes, mowing the lawn, and on the bike they can fool me into thinking the engine is not running. They are highly rated and not too expensive (~$70).

At speed on the bike the frequency and volume of the wind noise is difficult to overcome. It does cancel out most of it but it is replaced with a lower frequency hollow whoosh... hard to describe. I have damaged hearing from an explosion next to my head (car battery) 30 yrs ago, so I am engaged in hearing protection to keep what little I have left. On long rides I feel I'm replacing one type of noise with another, albeit a quieter lower pitched noise, and I end the rides with my ears ringing loudly anyway. I have not tried them with stock windscreen which I just switched back to after using the ZG DB due to high level on wind noise.

This recent trip to Arkansas I switched back to soft foam plugs and had better overall noise reduction than the noise canceling earbuds... I am still looking into over/on the ear noise canceling headphones to see if I can break them down and fit them in my Shoei RF1100 ear holes.

I'm surprised they work as well as they do. The noise cancelling electronics are located in the little control box that houses the battery. The sounds it picks up in your jacket or tank bag are not the same as the sounds in your helmet due to their different location relative to the air stream. You are hearing the generated 180 degrees out of phase sound waves that are meant to cancel sound heard by the control box, which is not the same as the noise inside your helmet.

The external mics for these earplugs are located in the earpieces.. small pinhole mics on the outside. The elecronics for the noise cancellation is in the box with the battery