ear plugs vs. noise cancelling ear buds

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Originally Posted by nhbubba

Same goes for gear. I know jeans aren't 'gear'. Still.. it happens.

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This is what I'm guilty of. I wear full gear, and then throw on jeans. I know it's not good, but I still do it because I didn't want to spend hundreds on actual riding pants. That'll change next year.


As far as noise goes, I know too many old pilots who are very hard of hearing, if not near deaf in one or both ears because of noise on the job. We all wear hearing protection now, but back in the day, even small airplanes didn't have headset jacks because nobody used hearing protection. I've been flying for 10 years, and riding for 5. Two things you can't get back are eyesight and hearing, both of which are used and abused in my work and hobby. I'll spend the money for the protection.

The mold yourself custom ones are like $7

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...%20ear%20plugs

Just make sure you make like a gourd so some is definitely snug IN your ear canal

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Originally Posted by Stromper

The mold yourself custom ones are like $7

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...%20ear%20plugs

Just make sure you make like a gourd so some is definitely snug IN your ear canal

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Tried it and they sucked balls, the people that do it know what they are doing and I clearly did not. It's not as easy as it looks imho.

I use these with I-phone /music and really makes the time go by on a long haul, but as previously mentioned phone is a pain to change volume & channels while underway and cord also.
http://www.amazon.com/Klipsch-Image-...ISE+CANCELLING

The sena SMH10 also makes a mount that you can plug earbuds into. Just an FYI.

ilkenpalm - emptied some pm's - pls try again

yeah, I'm not sold on earbuds anymore...even if they are fitted, I can't imagine the wind noise reduction being anywhere near as good as earplugs...I'm going plugs + smh10

I'll look around socal...I'm sure there's a plug fitting event sometime and I'll have 'em made

Good call. I think you'll be very pleased with the result.

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Originally Posted by tsorfas

Ya I really don't think riding can cause that much damage to hearing loss on its own. I know people ego ride 35+ years and don't even know what ear plugs look like. And they can hear just fine. There are more important things to worry about IMO.

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What? Speak up!

I would like to be able to hear things later in life. Just because some people can still hear, does not mean that they can hear very well. Wind noise will diminish hearing over time, it is proven:

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Based on several research studies, the major contributor to hearing loss in the motorcycle industryGraph of typical motorcycle riders exposure to dB noise levels remains the "silent killer" known as "wind noise." Generically termed as the amount of noise turbulence produced around the head while the rider is in motion. Its inherited consequences result in irreversible hearing loss damage over a period of time when adequate hearing protection is not worn.

Similar to the shooting and aviation industries, if this issue is not addressed correctly from the beginning the amount of exposure to the inner ear is compounded every time the rider ventures out on his/her bike for hours at a time. Constant duration of harmful level noises gradually force the rider into becoming another statistic of the "silent killer."

To put this in perspective, according to OSHA's regulation of industrial noise exposure, an average worker surrounded by levels around 85-90dB for an eight hour day will not exceed the limits of exposure time within a 24 hour period of time.

However, when the sound levels exceed 100dB, your exposure time is reduced to two hours. When sound levels exceed 115dB, your exposure time is drastically reduced to 15 minutes. This puts riding a bike a whole other realm as "wind noise" at highway speeds can measure up to 103dB, or comparable to a running chainsaw. At these levels the rider is not only fatiguing physically from the excess noise exposure, but it also puts him into a position of needing a hearing aid later in life.

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As with anything, I make choices to better my life and protect my senses. If anyone else decides to make a different choice, well that is called darwinism.

I've always wore earplugs at the track. Something I started doing and now I feel naked without them.


I just started wearing them on the street. I never did and never felt the need. I explained it away by wanting to hear everything that was going on around me. Well, I started wearing them on the street this year. Mostly because I switched to a naked street bike this year. No more wind protection. I feel it made a huge difference. Never knew how annoying all that wind noise was until I made it go away.

I got a SENA!

stupid easy to install...tested out the mp3 player today with an audiobook. The same audiobook with ear buds was somewhat drowned out at 35mph, and completely eliminated by wind at 65mph (because I never ride past 65mph)...then the wind took out some of my hearing too since the ear buds were hardly doing any noise reduction

now, I can be at full freeway speed and still make out every word. It's not perfect, but it's as good as you can get being on a bike...thanks fellas!! :woot:

my helmet is a small, and the speakers do a good scraping on my ears as I slide on the helmet, but I'm going to try cutting out some foam or repositioning them

next step - custom plugs