Earplugs

[Bob Denman]

I've found that I sleep better when riding with ear plugs than without...

:shocked: Well THAT's an eye-opener!!

 

[NorthStar]

Custom ear plugs

I went to a local hearing clinic a few years back and had the Audiologist/HIS craft me a set of custom ear plugs. She made the molds and sent them away for processing. Within a week I went back for a fitting. I wore them for a week or so at her suggestion and went back again to fine tune the fit. She was aware that I would be wearing the plugs under a helmet and wanted to make sure that there were no pressure points experienced from wearing the plugs with a helmet. The final adjustments were made and the plugs are indeed a custom fit.

i can wear them all day without discomfort and they definitely block out wind noise and make riding the bike much more enjoyable. Another side benefit I discovered is wearing these plugs while sleeping in a strange bed while traveling makes for a better sleep every time. Blocks out all those unfamiliar and annoying sounds like the infamous rattling window air conditioners we run into in the less pricey motels that we tend to stay in while on the road.

The process to custom fit the plugs took multiple visits and I do admit to feeling a tad guilty at only paying $100 for the finished product. This was compounded a bit when I lost one of the plugs while on a road trip six months later and they were replaced at no charge.

Any type of ear protection is beneficial and I would recommend going the custom fit route based on my experiences with ear plugs.

 

[Some Guy]

I always use some sort of hearing protection when I ride. I use these when riding one-up and listening to music; when not listening to music I wear foam plugs.

http://www.earfuze.com/store.html

When Some Girl is with me I use the blue tooth in the comm unit that I have in a different helmet so we both can listen. I always use the foam plugs when using the blue tooth and can hear the everything just fine.

 

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Quieter Ride

Hopefully you will not miss something you need to hear...:yikes: :lecturef_smilie:......Mike :thumbup:

 

[Some Guy]

Hopefully you will not miss something you need to hear...:yikes: :lecturef_smilie:......Mike :thumbup:

Eliminating the wind noise (a.k.a. white noise) makes it easier to hear the important stuff around, like cars, sirens, etc.

Granted, listening to music pretty much negates that, so you have to be extra vigilant. I never listen to music when I'm just riding around town.

 

[shelbydave]

Hopefully you will not miss something you need to hear...:yikes: :lecturef_smilie:......Mike :thumbup:

Eliminating the wind noise (a.k.a. white noise) makes it easier to hear the important stuff around, like cars, sirens, etc.

Granted, listening to music pretty much negates that, so you have to be extra vigilant. I never listen to music when I'm just riding around town.

:agree: There's a whole range of sounds hitting your ear while riding, and 90% of that is junk that washes out the sounds you want to hear. I can hear my surroundings much better with earplugs in, than without them.

 

[OJ UK]

Having ridden fast bikes right through the 70s and 80s my goose has already been well and truly cooked.
When I consulted an audiologist about 10 years ago with tinitus, he found that my high frequency sensitivity was down
by almost 70%. Permanent damage and no way back.
The hearing aids I last bought, which are a revelation, allow me to enjoy music and birdsong once again. When I think that before I was
biking I could hear bats squeaking, it is a stern lesson to have to learn. The hearing aids were around $5000! Protecting my hearing would
have been a good bit cheaper. But back then no-one wore ear plugs.

 

[Dan McNally]

UClear has earbuds that connect to my Bluetooth. They are not legal to wear in all states, so I wear them where I can. I have a set of the do it yourself molded earplugs for other places. They make a huge difference. With the earbuds, I can play music loud enough to enjoy, but still hear the sound car tires make if a vehicle is coming up behind me . . . without some sort of ear protection all I hear is wind noise. My wife likes the quality of the sound from the microphones on the earbuds much better than other microphones I've used for the Bluetooth phone conncection . . . she hears my clearly because they have noise cancellation in them . . .

 

[bruiser]

I had a set of molded, until I left them on the counter one night. The cats had a ball with them. Anyway, like OJ, I have hearing loss. 20 years of being around fighters took a toll on my hearing. I do wear the foam plugs when needed. Even when mowing the lawn or working with loud tools. And riding. The wife wears them at night. She says I snore. Ha, she does too.

Forgot, some foam plugs are slightly harder than others. Find the softest ones. Putting them in correctly is essential. You can injure the eardrum if you put them in wrong.

 

[capt.jim]

As Scotty said, I'm much less fatigued after riding a long distance. I keep a small bag of them in my frunk and a couple in each pocket of my jackets. I prefer the foam ones over my custom molded ones.

 

[PW2013STL]

As Scotty said, I'm much less fatigued after riding a long distance. I keep a small bag of them in my frunk and a couple in each pocket of my jackets. I prefer the foam ones over my custom molded ones.

I am with you on that. I can wear the form ones longer then the my custom ones. I like others have hearing loss due to not wearing hearing protection in my youth. Too many bikes and guns without protection. I also wear hearing aids, but not when riding.

 

[figmotoday]

ear buds with....

noise canceling effectively work for me while either silent or listening to music. Only downside is putting on my helmet without moving the earbuds and having wires running to my ipod vs helmet speakers & other options removing the need for wires.

 

[Dan McNally]

noise canceling effectively work for me while either silent or listening to music. Only downside is putting on my helmet without moving the earbuds and having wires running to my ipod vs helmet speakers & other options removing the need for wires.

That is the same problem I have . . . remembering the wires! Oh, well . . . practice makes perfect, and that sound cancelling is great. It is nice to have the wind sounds muted and to actually hear the tires on the road of a vehicle approaching me from behind . . . as well as all the other sound that get hidden by the wind noise.

 

[Dan_Ashley]

Do foam earplugs filter out more (or less) noise than molded ones?

 

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Noise

Eliminating the wind noise (a.k.a. white noise) makes it easier to hear the important stuff around, like cars, sirens, etc.

Granted, listening to music pretty much negates that, so you have to be extra vigilant. I never listen to music when I'm just riding around town.

......Sorry I didn't know you could buy earplugs for muffling SELECTIVE SOUNDS ? ? ?:yikes:.....Mike

 

[Bob Denman]

Some of the cheapest foam ones have a 35 Db NRR... :2thumbs:
That's what I use, when shooting; along with earmuffs that also have a 31 Db rating

 

[Dan_Ashley]

Some of the cheapest foam ones have a 35 Db NRR... :2thumbs:
That's what I use, when shooting; along with earmuffs that also have a 31 Db rating

hmmmm....I gonna try foam ones and compare with my do-it-yoursel molded ones. I'll post the result tomorrow or the next day.

 

[Bob Denman]

I can't wait, to HEAR the results!
:bbq::bbq:

 

[stillriding]

Do foam earplugs filter out more (or less) noise than molded ones?

​I've never had molded plugs, but last year I tried foam ones and the noise was amplified.

 

[Bob Denman]

You put them in backwards... :roflblack: