DIY "acoustic tube" MP3 earplugs for under $5.

[sleemanj]

I find earing normal "earbud" (aka canalphone, in ear headphones, etc) under a helmet to be pretty uncomfortable, the bulk of the "driver" (speaker to we lay folk) tends to push against your ear and the helmet, and well, after about an hour, I find it unbearable.

Last night I had a brainwave, I converted the earbuds into "acoustic tube" ear plugs, all up for less than $5 (not including the earbuds, since I already had them, but you could get some for a couple bucks on TradeMe if you don't). Effectively we are making a stethoscope out of a pair of earplugs, some tube and a normal "earbud" type headset.

Everything you can get from Bunnings!

You will need:
some plain old squishy foam earplugs, I got 3M ones, they are like 70c a pair, I got a bunch to experiment with.

some 3mm diameter pvc tube, this is in the gardening aisle at Bunnings with the watering stuff, 60c a meter, before I got to bunnings I had bought some from supercheap which was more 10x more expensive but it is slightly thinner, but I tried bunnings stuff and it's just fine, I'll try the supercheap stuff too sometime since I paid them $12 for it.

and also from he gardening aisle two "elbow barbed 4mm" fittings made by NETA (maybe they had 3mm, but I jut grabbed these), they are something like 60c each

Making the things couldn't be easier, grab an old nail, or little drill bit or something, and a pair of pliers. Hold the nail in the pliers and heat it up, I used the gas hobbs, maybe you have something flasher. When you think it's hot enough, poke a hole through each of your 70c earplugs.

Take the elbows you bought and stuff one end in the earplugs.

Cut your pipe into a couple of, say, 50cm lengths, affix each pipe to the other end of an elbow.

Now, all you have to do it attach the other end of each pipe to your ear buds somehow. Here's how I did it...

My earbuds came with 3 different sized silicone "tips". I took the medium sized tips and I turned them "inside out" so there is a "cup" end and a "pipe" end, your bunnings 3mm tube fits perfectly into the pipe end, and the cup end mates perfectly with the large size tips wit a bit of superglue to keep them togethor. The large tips then fit onto the buds like normal.

That's it, job done. How do they work? Not bad. I did about an hour's ride today and they were quite comfortable, wind noise was quite reduced, I had the volume at about 3/4 on the mp3 player on the open road, less in town. You do get a bit of noise from the tube rubbing against your jacket, I might try shorter tubes, maybe even to just below the helmet.

Future ideas:
maybe the elbows are not necessary, just tubes straight into the earplugs.
maybe the hole in the plugs doesn' need to go all the way through, leaving a "cap" might reduce he remaining wind noise some more
shorter tubes
different shapes/types of earplug

[Ratti]

I thinkI must have short ears, those foam ear plugs are too long and drag on the helmet once its on. Irritates me. Or maybe I have narrow ear canals and cant get the silly things in far enough?

Given you have won the MacGuyver award for the week, do you have any suggestions to tailor the foams? I wonderd if they come in different thicknesses or lengths?

[sleemanj]

You can get all sorts of different ear plugs, but, I would just try cutting them down to be shorter, break out the scissors :-)

Here;s a place online that sells trial packs of earplugs, all different types....
http://earplugstore.stores.yahoo.net/unfoamtrialp.html

Make sure you are fitting them in properly, here's a good video...

[oldrider]

Would you believe it......I have got different sized ear holes so double the cost and effort but hey, this is a useful thread, thanks!

[Ratti]

wow, thanks sleemanj

add that to my list of things to do today. Ive just been using some I found in the shed when I was sorting out my hubbys stuff. I had no idea they came in different sizes.

[Laxi]

coin save and $2 shop here have the good ol fashioned plug into your ear type headphones, quality's not the best but pretty damn comfortable

[breakaway]

I find earing normal "earbud" (aka canalphone, in ear headphones, etc) under a helmet to be pretty uncomfortable

You need to find the right one for yourself then. Ive worn mine for upwards of 7 hours on the road and never had any issues with comfort.

[PeterJ]

Well aren't you clever!!!.

[vifferman]

I had a friend in Mrka who did the same thing, but took the silicon bit off his ear buds and inserted those into the ear plugs (so dispensing with the plastic tubing between the two).
I guess the limiting factor with his way of doing it is that you need earbuds to start with that are pretty small in profile, so they don't catch when putting your helmet on or taking it off.

[Okey Dokey]

Thanks for the information. That looks so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel!

[slofox]

I am currently debating what to do about plugs. I use plugz4lugz at present which are extremely good. I can wear them all day in total comfort and they give excellent attenuation. BUT. I have two earpieces in the helmet - one interphone on the LH side and one TPX earpiece on the RH side.
The problem is that I need to get rid of the overall motorbike noise but still be able to hear the interphone and, more importantly, the TPX warning tones...difficult. So far I haven't missed the TPX because there is a visual warning as well but the tone will tell you what band is being activated without having to look at the console. I have missed several interphone calls - none of which was important, fortunately.
I need some magic doover that let's what I want to hear through and keeps all the clag out...