Which ear plugs?

[Pixie]

NZ Safety has Moldex Rockets reusables on special at the moment for $3.25

[mowgli]

You can ride for about 4 hours before you risk hearing loss at that speed. Your unlikely to be commuting for 4 hours in one ride, so you should be fine.

Wow! You could be a climate scientist

[LBD]

Not many bikers will suffer from this but working in a diesel power station, I wore plugs 12 hours a day and encountered two problems

1) Ear infections from constantly wet or damp ears because they cannot breath and dry out..use a medicated ear drops for swimmers ear regularly after a shower fixes that

2) Ear wax naturally works its way out of an ear...constant plug use pushes the wax in and can form a solid lump that in extreme cases works like an ear plug. Lay with head on side and using an eyedropper, fill ear with moderate warm olive oil and massage the lobe for a while...this disolves the wax in time then a hot shower with a gentle stream of water toward the ear will wash it out...

[jono035]

Not many bikers will suffer from this but working in a diesel power station, I wore plugs 12 hours a day and encountered two problems

1) Ear infections from constantly wet or damp ears because they cannot breath and dry out..use a medicated ear drops for swimmers ear regularly after a shower fixes that

2) Ear wax naturally works its way out of an ear...constant plug use pushes the wax in and can form a solid lump that in extreme cases works like an ear plug. Lay with head on side and using an eyedropper, fill ear with moderate warm olive oil and massage the lobe for a while...this disolves the wax in time then a hot shower with a gentle stream of water toward the ear will wash it out...

Hopefully that is more of a 12 hours a day, 5 days a week kind of problem? The ear-wax buildup can also be dealt with by a nurse at a GPs office at pretty minimal cost. Think they just use warm saline rather than olive oil...

[tcpdump]

Hi,

I got some ear plugs (Thanks again C!), the 3M orange ones and the yellow ones. I tried the orange ones first since they are less powerful (20db).
I found riding with them very strange, they were cancelling too much noise, pretty much all of it. I could hear, somewhere far in the distance, the engine that was 30cm away but the rest of the street noise was missing completely.
It was nice that the wind noise was cancelled but I wasn't comfortable at all.

Are there any ear plugs that cancel only 5-10db?

I don't think it matters but I have a full face helmet (HJC FG15). I managed to put my helmet on the first attempt but it may just be beginner's luck

Cheers.

[p.dath]

Hi,

I got some ear plugs (Thanks again C!), the 3M orange ones and the yellow ones. I tried the orange ones first since they are less powerful (20db).
I found riding with them very strange, they were cancelling too much noise, pretty much all of it. I could hear, somewhere far in the distance, the engine that was 30cm away but the rest of the street noise was missing completely.
It was nice that the wind noise was cancelled but I wasn't comfortable at all.

Are there any ear plugs that cancel only 5-10db?

I don't think it matters but I have a full face helmet (HJC FG15). I managed to put my helmet on the first attempt but it may just be beginner's luck

Cheers.

My thoughts are that it you are riding at 100km/h that you want 15dB of protection to be confident of avoiding long term hearing loss.

Check out the review I did of a couple of different ear plugs:
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...d.php?t=111391

[GJR]

That all depends on how dirty you get the plugs. If (like me) you don't mind a bit of grime in wour ears then they will last for ages. After a while they don't expand as fast and can be loose. On a health note, the ear is a great way to introduce infection into the bloodstream.

[tcpdump]

How many db do you think a balaclava will stop?

[p.dath]

How many db do you think a balaclava will stop?

Unless you somehow shove it into your ear canal, almost nothing.

[wysper]

Just ordered some earbuddies today.
I will post up comments after I get a chance to try them out.

[sil3nt]

The wax i just purchased works really well when it seals. However moving my mouth breaks the seal as does putting on my helmet making them rather useless. Need to try them out a bit more though.

[Dodgyiti]

how do people find plugz for lugz? im looking at getting a pair of their stereo plugs for the ipod, but at $220, i want to see what other people think of them. my current earphones are $2 POS and i have to have them really loud to hear anything, even at 50k. which means ive got ringing when i hop off.

They are awesome, had mine for 14 months now, which equates to over 25,000km. No sign of any wear or damage. The sound is great! Because they fit in your ear perfectly and are soft, they are comfortable.
It is a lot of money for sure, but if they last a long time and save your hearing by not having to turn up the sound too loud because they block out the wind etc- then it's a good deal.

Edit; if you turn the music off, you can hear the bike really well. The first time I used them I could tell the tappets needed adjusting but I could not tell that before

[Gershon]

I've had a set of Alpine ear plugs for the past 4-5 years - awesome. Makes long distance riding really comfortable. Blocks out heaps of noise and I can still have a conversation with them in. Also, can listen to the iPod ear phones tucked into helmet lining even with the ear plugs in. Cost about $50 from Motomail - but they are so worthwhile!

[Morcs]

I just dont see the point in spending 4 figures on a nice set of pipes, to just block them out somewhat.

[jono035]

I just dont see the point in spending 4 figures on a nice set of pipes, to just block them out somewhat.

Depends on what you mean by block them out. With a good set of earplugs everything will still sound pretty similar, just lower in volume.

If I could go back in time I would be telling myself to wear ear plugs to concerts and not turn the car stereo up so loud. Tinnitus is a bitch.