ear plugs

[Shaddow]

Wear earplugs nearly every time I'm one the bike. I'd prefer to save my hearing. I've heard of plenty of the raafies talking about the difference in their annual hearing tests from just riding down to the medical centre with plugs in. That tells me that everytime I ride without them I'm doing alot more damage than I first thought. End result, ride with them.

Oh and I use the foam ones you roll in your fingers cause they are free at work too. Roll them tight and jam them in deep, they never fall out.

[ohgood]

most drug stores sell 50 pair for $10 or so. the purple kind in a plastic tub are extremely soft, roll them tight, hold them while expanding, and enjoy the quiet.

the super cheap hard foam ones that are scratchy likely turned the whole world off to ear plugs. they are terrible, irritating and get nasty with one use.

be careful if you use noise cancelling ear buds (with music) too. if you can't hear a friend standing next to you, the music is too loud and you can't hear a cars horn right behind you. turn it down !

keep an eye on woot.com for the $4 (shipped!) KOSS noise cancelling ear buds. volume control on the chord, -20dB cancelling, and very, very good sound quality. for four dollars. shipped.

[redhenracing2]

if you can't hear a friend standing next to you, the music is too loud and you can't hear a cars horn right behind you. .

Meh, I just make sure I'm going faster than everyone else. Everybody is trying to hit me, so I make sure they can't catch me. A quick twist of the throttle and I'm out of any potential trouble.

When in doubt, throttle it out 

[Anaconda]

I very rarely ride without them...we get them for free from work, so yeah, I wear them all the time...if I'm staying in town and only going for a quick ride to run an errand I may not put them in, but that's pretty rare.

I've lost enough of my hearing due to music and shop noises, I'm not taking any chances.  Plus I find it quite peaceful having them in and can just enjoy the ride.

Later.

Yup, exactly madjak,  I wear mine all the time if I ride for longer than 10 mins because it's not worth losing my hearing.  My ears ring quite often due to the loud music I listen to, usually at concerts.  I figured that if I dont have 30 seconds to put it on, then I'm running late and need to wake up earlier.

[Firstoni]

I use an in helmet set of headphones that velcro in, when I am not on the bike the only headphones i use are over the ear sennheisers for just listening to music, or if I need a full headset I use steel series headsets

[bettingpython]

I use an in helmet set of headphones that velcro in, when I am not on the bike the only headphones i use are over the ear sennheisers for just listening to music, or if I need a full headset I use steel series headsets

You're doing tremendous damage to your hearing because you have to up the volume to mask the  the low frequency wind roar in the helmet. This makes you unware of the damage done to your hearing by the ambient noise plus does further damage by playing music loud enough to overcome a 100~103db background noise level.

Wind roar in helmets is at a low frequency so it doesn't seem that damaging but ask a guy like me who has been riding for 25 years just how much we like saying what? or Huh? Sorry I didn't hear you. All because of the screaming tinnitus in our ears. Take care of your hearing at all times, you have already chosen to wear gear to increase your odds of surviving why no tinsure that your future quality of life will be pleasent, take it from me non stop ringing in your ears sucks great green wart covererd donkey schlongs.

http://www.webbikeworld.com/motorcycle-helmets/helmet-noise.htm

These are inexpensive do them yourself no need to go to an audiologist, I used 1/2 the material to make some custom fit molds for my shure e2c earbuds and the other half of the material mas more than sufficient to make a nice low profile set of plugs that I wear under my electronic hearing protectors on the range or under my helmet when riding.

http://www.radians.com/main/p-282-radians-custom-molded-earplugs.aspx

[Firstoni]

I believe the most recent studies actually point to the most damage to your hearing being done by the helmet itself transferring of the sound directly threw your bones to your inner ear (making ear plugs, ear buds etc entirely useless)


http://www.motorcycleinsurance.org/motorcycle-helmets-may-cause-hearing-loss/


And no I don't turn up the headphones to drown out the air noise over my helmet, at highway speed I am unable to hear it, but since 90% of my hour commute to work is 35 mph or less, I like to have a little music to keep myself from falling asleep while waiting for traffic to get outa my way =P (kidding about the falling asleep part, its mostly for live traffic reports so if I need to take a different route I can but the music is nice too)  Also my headphones have a built in noise sensor that will raise and lower the volume a little bit depending on the ambient noise around me.

The headphones are not doing any more damage to my ears as just wearing the helmet in the first place, and considering I am wearing a modular helmet THAT'S probably doing more damage to my hearing then anything (thus why I am saving up for an x-twelve ....)


Also most hearing damage is caused by regular constant noise (such as the wind noise at 60 mph for 2 hours at a time) anything that causes variations in that actually helps save your hearing, its interesting what you learn when you work for an agency like NASA ....

[GI_JO_NATHAN]

These are inexpensive do them yourself no need to go to an audiologist, I used 1/2 the material to make some custom fit molds for my shure e2c earbuds and the other half of the material mas more than sufficient to make a nice low profile set of plugs that I wear under my electronic hearing protectors on the range or under my helmet when riding.

http://www.radians.com/main/p-282-radians-custom-molded-earplugs.aspx

I like those. I've been thinking about something like that because the others I've tryed hurt my ears after a few days of commuting with them.

[tt_four]

When I picked up my last bike I had a 5 hour highway ride home. I didn't think to take earplugs because it had been so long since I did any real highway riding, and by the time I got home I felt so sick I thought I was going to die. I had a brand new bike and didn't even want to ride it until about 3 days later. It's surprising to see how much it really affects you just beyond a normal headache when you do it for extended periods of time. I love naked bikes, but the longer I ride the more and more I consider something with a fairing, even if it's just a removable windshield or something for when I'm on the highway.

[bettingpython]

Next thing you know you'll be telling us about your high IQ and degree plans, like we really care where you work.

You may not have a long highway commute but many of us who do ride do more than putter around at 35mph most of our lives, I am usually on the bike for a 8~10 hours a day when I go riding, up until the last few years almost every trip I ever went on I was on a motorcycle, I have first hand experience with the long term damage caused by riding without earplugs under my lid and 2 audiologists over the past couple of years with diagnosis that confirm it.

Hey it's your hearing though if you're too smart to listen to people that lhave ong term experience that's fine, but what you learn at NASA may not be the reality you think it is.

[madjak30]

When I first started to ride, I didn't think about ear plugs...never really occured to me...but I really didn't like hitting the hiway, it just seemed to busy and not enjoyable.  I think it was on the BBM forum that someone suggested the earplugs...taking away the wind noise made riding the hiway quite enjoyable...the higher speed and the more calm, made it quite fun really...now it's just part of my routine to put them in and I feel naked when I don't wear them...

[JB848]

Removed

[Firstoni]

Next thing you know you'll be telling us about your high IQ and degree plans, like we really care where you work.

You may not have a long highway commute but many of us who do ride do more than putter around at 35mph most of our lives, I am usually on the bike for a 8~10 hours a day when I go riding, up until the last few years almost every trip I ever went on I was on a motorcycle, I have first hand experience with the long term damage caused by riding without earplugs under my lid and 2 audiologists over the past couple of years with diagnosis that confirm it.

Hey it's your hearing though if you're too smart to listen to people that lhave ong term experience that's fine, but what you learn at NASA may not be the reality you think it is.

Hrm I like how you assume I haven't been to college yet or that I cant possibly have been riding a motorcycle long, and my IQ is honestly none of your business, but thanks for the compliment.

To be more specific you have long term experience with hearing loss while riding with a helmet, as I stated recent studies say that the ear plugs likely make little to no difference.

And your right there are many people that do more then putter around as you said but you directed your statement at me so I replied nicely and gave a few more details as to my current riding habits and why I don't ride with earplugs, or jam speakers directly into my ears with the wires trailed into my jacket to get caught on something if I go down and rip up my ear canal when they are jerked out at a less then ideal angle. If you where looking to place a more generalized statement to our peers to not use velcro in helmet headphones due to your perceived auditory danger then be my guest, you have your right to your own opinion, you may just want to phrase it as such next time.

As for where I have worked, nope you probably don't care but they have had at least one acoustical testing lab designed specifically to test things like this exhaustively for somewhere around ~ 55 ish years, I would expect them to have a clue as to what can cause hearing loss at this point.

Finally, I am not only smart enough to listen, but to qualify the statements said to me and judge there usefulness in direct relation to myself, along with being smart enough to know that what is good for the gander isn't always whats good for the goose.

[Firstoni]

While I am no way an aficionado on hearing I can only speak from experience. My Father was in the Navy for 3 years on a Destroyer and was a Radio repairman and after that he worked for the ARMY Civil service until he retired. There were always high pitch noises around him when he worked at the Depot but at home he always wore hearing protection of some kind. I can't speak of his hearing protection at work because I was not there of course but by his early 50's he was deaf as a door nail and needed special hearing aids.

So what I will say is hearing protection at all times is important, be very careful around high pitch noises. I myself wear them always and I never was a big fan of loud music so hopefully I won't be wearing hearing aids too soon if ever.

I personally think there will soon be a hearing crisis world wide when all these people come of age that have been using these ear buds and head phones that amplify the damage that is done to the inner ear nerves. I pray that I am wrong.

But yes use ear protection anytime you feel it is too loud and the foam roll up or the 3 flange rubber are simple and effective to use! What?

What a well phrased and qualified post JB848, thank you for your input.

[redhenracing2]

I myself wear them always and I never was a big fan of loud music so hopefully I won't be wearing hearing aids too soon if ever.

I personally think there will soon be a hearing crisis world wide when all these people come of age that have been using these ear buds and head phones that amplify the damage that is done to the inner ear nerves. I pray that I am wrong.

I don't plan to get old enough to need a hearing aid.

[JB848]

Removed

[Firstoni]

I still don't see what IQ has to do with whats being discussed here =P


I still like JB's post and the phrasing there in.

[redhenracing2]

I took an online iq test (inaccurate source, I know) that put me just below 150. Also in military entrance I took the ASVAB and scored a 94, where the maximum is a 99 and the average is about a 58. I would like to take real, credible IQ test one day just for kicks and giggles.

[Paulcet]

These are inexpensive do them yourself no need to go to an audiologist, I used 1/2 the material to make some custom fit molds for my shure e2c earbuds and the other half of the material mas more than sufficient to make a nice low profile set of plugs that I wear under my electronic hearing protectors on the range or under my helmet when riding.

http://www.radians.com/main/p-282-radians-custom-molded-earplugs.aspx

Awesome!  Ordered a set.  Do you think I could easily integrate a set of ear buds?

[bettingpython]

These are inexpensive do them yourself no need to go to an audiologist, I used 1/2 the material to make some custom fit molds for my shure e2c earbuds and the other half of the material mas more than sufficient to make a nice low profile set of plugs that I wear under my electronic hearing protectors on the range or under my helmet when riding.

http://www.radians.com/main/p-282-radians-custom-molded-earplugs.aspx

Awesome!  Ordered a set.  Do you think I could easily integrate a set of ear buds?

I was disappointed with the final results of my molds with the shure e2c's, might try it again sometime if I order another kit. Although they are comfortable they lost a lot of volume and dynamic range from not sealing like the expanding foam ear buds. They're more comfortable to wear but I find myself using 30 to 40 percent more volume.

http://boingboing.net/2010/08/27/make-your-own-custom.html