Ear Plugs.....???

[snookers]

Help me out here.....pardon the pun, but what's up with peeps wearing earplugs while riding ? Have things changed that drastically over my past twenty bikeless years ? Years ago when I rode everday, I don't ever recall wearing earplugs or even needing them for that matter. My helmut would always deaden outside noises well enough. I for one enjoy the engines hum while riding a bike and like to be able to hear emergency vehicle siren's before I see them, and the wearing of earplugs IMHO does not allow that. I suppose it's a personnal choice,but I doubt very much you'd ever catch me wearing them, unless of course, it was to deter an infestation of flying brain boring earwigs. (gotta luv Rod Serling)

[Penforhire]

I wear custom fitted silicone plugs (goop injected in your ears and left there a few minutes to set). They do not block as many frequencies as good foamies but they go in instantly, are all-day comfy, and I can hear important noises such as you mention ... and my radar detector

 

They last a few years before loosening up. The best prices I find for these are at gun shows ($30-35). We seem to pay a hefty "motorcycle tax" at bike shows.

 

You should know there are studies demonstrating there is enough noise to cause hearing loss wearing most (all?) helmets. But it is a choice each of us gets to make, just like riding.

[Caddis]

I wear earplugs for two reasons. First, there seems to be quite a bit of discussion about how prolonged wind noise can can cause permanent damage. I haven't researched it thoroughly, but I don't doubt it, and I would rather be safe than sorry. I did a quick search, and here is one article that talks about helmet noise and earplugs.

 

Secondly, I find wind noise to be very tiring after a while, especially over about 40 mph. Without earplugs, I feel more drained, and have more trouble concentrating, if I ride for more than an hour or so.

 

By the way, I already have tinnitus (not from motorcycling), so I definitely don't want to make it worse, and I am more sensitive to noises than most people.

 

 

[marcopolo]

My choice is to wear them whenever I get on the bike. I find it much more enjoyable with less noise, and I've read enough on the subject to convince me that riding a bike without them poses a serious risk of permanent hearing loss. I have at least one riding friend who never wears earplugs, though it seems to be as much a brand-specific "cultural" thing as anything else in his case.

[Sailorlite]

Here are some reasons for NOT wearing custom earplugs:

 

1. They're uncomfortable for short and long rides.

2. They're expensive, compared to foam or none.

3. It's more difficult to converse because you can't hear the other person very well.

4. They look a little sissyish.

5. They block out "safety" sounds like car horns.

 

Personally I disagree with #1 and #5, so I wear them for every ride. In the old days I didn't, but that was because I didn't know they existed. Once I tried them (about 3 yrs. ago) I was sold. As mentioned above, riding definitely is more enjoyable with less noise.

 

[Selden]

Hearing loss is cumulative; even if you have a quiet bike, helmet/wind noise will ultimately harm your hearing. I wear disposable foam plugs because they are cheap, comfortable, and I am terribly absent minded. I started riding in 1962, and unfortunately, I didn't start wearing plugs until 15 years ago. I have tinnitus 24x7, and some hearing loss in my left ear (conversations in restaurants and other loud environments are a bitch).

 

I now wear hearing protection when mowing the lawn (electric mower) or when using a gas-powered chain saw or weed whacker, or when using an electric power saw or any tool that generates a significant amount of noise.

[rad]

I doubt very much you'd ever catch me wearing them, unless of course, it was to deter an infestation of flying brain boring earwigs. (gotta luv Rod Serling)

 

Come back here and post in a few years when this begins for you..............tinnitus

 

BTW, make sure you don't put on sun screen when in the sun, that also makes for lots of fun years later.

[notacop]

Selden brings up a good point about those non motorcycle noises we don't normally think about. Back yard and home work tools that contribute to the overall hearing loss.

A buddy said his wife had to wake him up during the earthquake the other night cus he was wearing EP's and didn't hear it. I heard it coming and woke my wife so she wouldn't be startled by the shaking. He apparently didn't notice the shaking.

I've found that wearing them while sleeping at rallies can make the night a lot more restful. Particularily if the band is bad!

The custom fitted work for long hours for me. I'd get ear overdose with the foam jobs and my ears would get too sensitive to the pressure.

[grbrown]

There was a report in, I think, Cycle Magazine, in the 70s on this topic. It was the time when the great safety neurosis was in full swing and noise in the workplace was being investigated. The US forestry people gave their chaps earmuffs by the truckload, then realised skidoo and bike riders couldn't wear them as well as crash-helmets.

 

So they devised a cunning bit of kit to measure actual noises inside the crash-helmet. It is loud - very loud. I have worn earplugs ever since. Don't be fooled by 'quiet' helmets, it is only relative. I especially wear them while flying, also while driving my car any distance, at rock concerts, all for the same reason - I like hi-fi music - I plan listening to it as long as I can!

 

Whenever the subject of hearing loss due to riding comes up I wonder just what happened? There seems to be a collective amnesia amongst bikers that ignores 35 year old research and advice.

 

Don't argue! Wear earplugs.

[effexer1]

I have tinnitus also, 24/7, and am very careful with the hearing that I have left. Wind noise is a killer. Ear plugs don't block all the frequencies, just the higher ones. You can easily hear sirens, and the engine of your bike, with earplugs in. Plus a long ride is less stressful with the wind noise blocked.

 

Wear 'em, or pay the price. I'm paying the price, and it sucks.

[Tom R.]

After not riding for 20+ years, I started riding again in early 2004. In April 2007, I started wearing hearing aids.

 

My advice, wear effective hearing protection on every ride, and when you use the weed wacker, the grinder, the nail gun, etc. etc.

[flat_twin]

Help me out here.....pardon the pun, but what's up with peeps wearing earplugs while riding ? Have things changed that drastically over my past twenty bikeless years ? Years ago when I rode everday, I don't ever recall wearing earplugs or even needing them for that matter. My helmut would always deaden outside noises well enough. I for one enjoy the engines hum while riding a bike and like to be able to hear emergency vehicle siren's before I see them, and the wearing of earplugs IMHO does not allow that. I suppose it's a personnal choice,but I doubt very much you'd ever catch me wearing them, unless of course, it was to deter an infestation of flying brain boring earwigs. (gotta luv Rod Serling)

 

In my early riding days no one I knew wore ear plugs or even considered it. I wore a 3/4 helmet and a denim jacket at best. Fourteen years ago when my wife and I got back into motorcycling, things had changed or more accurately, the BMW motorcycling community we aligned with did things differently than we used to. Wearing protective gear head to toe made good sense. A quieter ride and saving my hearing were my initial expectations when we started using ear plugs. Feeling far less fatigued after an all day ride was something I hadn't expected. If you give them a try you may find this to be true as well.

Ear plugs are just another piece of what I consider to be essential safety gear.

E.A.R soft foam, yellow neon blasts are my favorite plugs. Send me your address and I mail you a couple pair to try.

[malcolmblalock]

I'm 62 and took up riding 8 years ago after a "normal" life of lawn mowers, weed trimmers, guns, and other noisy apparati. Now that, coupled with now about 130,000 miles on the bike, I have what I guess is tinnitis.

 

Imagine hearing the critters that like to sing at night (katydids?, crickets? etc) all day, every day, and you can see what it's like in my head. Sounds like the night sounds from critters when camping out in a damp area. It's never quiet anymore.

 

I've started wearing hearing protection fairly recently, when I noted a significant increase in volume of noise in my head and a subsequent difficulty in understanding normal conversation. Never had any of it until after riding a couple of years.

 

Haven't seen an ear specialist; I know what the advice will be, so I've started wearing hearing protection whenever I ride. I have a pair of formed ear pieces that I wear sometimes. Other times I use the foam ones.

 

Just wished I had "listened" to others better earlier....

[elkroeger]

EH? EH? WHATZAT SUNNY??

 

I guess it's no skin off my nose if you can't hear anything. But I'll throw you a bone:

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/noise/abouthlp/noisemeter_flash/soundMeter_flash.html

 

Over at work the safety guy was checking the mechanical rooms with his sound meter. I dragged him over to my bike, started it up, and ran the rpms up and down in the parking lot. He held the meter about where my noggin' sits. Stock bike, and we got readings 75 - 90 over much of the useful revs.

 

I wear foam plugs 100% of the time on the bike. I have never had an earplug leave me oblivious to important noises like car horns (people don't honk at me much anyhow), or police sirens, or even the less obvious mechanical failure noises that my bikes have made on occasion.

 

The way I see it, the only thing that's sissy about sticking an earplug in your head is the lack of education it requires to NOT use them. But like I said, it's no skin off my nose if you can't hear anything.

[Spartan]

If you don't use plugs I suggest you try them for a couple of long ride days. Then go ride without them and you will WANT to use plugs all the time. Even better if you can play music through them.

[snookers]

Come back here and post in a few years when this begins for you..............tinnitus

 

 

It would seem that after doing some reading on the subject, that I probably already have tinnitus,(self diagnosis), no doubt from the years of exposure to noise in heavey industry........for years I never wore ear protection.......perhaps this is why I never felt the need for ear protection on the bike..... because I could't hear loud noises

 

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

Selden brings up a good point about those non motorcycle noises we don't normally think about. Back yard and home work tools that contribute to the overall hearing loss.

 

Ayup.

 

My dad is in his mid-70's, and has appreciable hearing loss. He'll tell you it's from his days in the Navy, flying multi-engine prop planes all over the world in the late 1950's, but I tend to think it's mostly from the intervening 50 years of using all manner of power tools without any hearing protection whatsoever.

 

I keep a box of disposable earplugs in the garage, and another box in the basement. Pretty much any time I fire up a power tool, I put in a pair of earplugs.

 

I've found that wearing them while sleeping at rallies can make the night a lot more restful.

 

They are also handy if your roommate snores. DAMHIK!

 

 

[Harry_Wilshusen]

I like the wind noise when I ride. It drowns out the ringing in my ears.

 

 

Harry

[elkroeger]

It would seem that after doing some reading on the subject, that I probably already have tinnitus...

 

Well, there you go. Welcome to the club.

 

Get yourself a box of these.

 

by the way, check these babies out.

 

 

[Dundee387]

I wear them because I've read about the long term effects of wind noise can cause to hearing.

 

I am so used to them (custom molded) that I don't enjoy riding without them, and I get a headache after a while with no plugs..

 

Just a personal thing....

 

[BluegrassPicker]

Took me a few years to start wearing them. I finally realized that I needed to trim a little off the ends so they would not conduct helmet noise into my ears.

Once I figured that out, I don't like riding without them. Too bad I got some tinnitus first :o(

[flat_twin]

It would seem that after doing some reading on the subject, that I probably already have tinnitus...

 

Well, there you go. Welcome to the club.

 

Get yourself a box of these.

 

by the way, check these babies out.

 

 

Check the "these" link, item number 15 on page one. My favorite plug . The tip about trimming about 1/8 inch off the butt end of the ear plug if it rubs your helmet liner is a good one. I do that too.

[Deadboy]

If you don't use plugs I suggest you try them for a couple of long ride days. Then go ride without them and you will WANT to use plugs all the time. Even better if you can play music through them.

 

I have done this to a few riders and they have all expressed amazement when they take them out....it is much louder than you realize and the long term effect is not good.