Of the 22 who responded, 18% wear no earplugs (one uses his AKG in-ear headphones for music, which will offer very little noise reduction yet need to be loud to be audible at speed). Apparently, this type of ear plug was made popular by musicians who need to protect their hearing but still need to be able to hear a wide range of frequencies and talk to people in the studio or when playing live. For quite a few years, I didn’t even contemplate earplugs. Then for a few years after that, I considered them – and intended to wear them – but never seemed to get around to it. In terms of comfort, Decibullz motorcycle earplugs fit me better than foam plugs. And they don’t hurt my ears even on longer rides. Until recently, your primary choice for protecting your ears was the faithful foam earplug. The good news is that, when properly inserted, they work better than just about anything else at lessening the intensity of the sound reaching your ears. However, they have some shortcomings. First, if improperly inserted, their effectiveness is radically lessened. Second, many riders feel that the uneven damping of frequencies make sounds muffled and unclear.

The filters are replaceable and upgradable for use in custom fit ear moulds, they are also long lasting, reusable and have fully washable tips and filters. Usage of earplugs or Bluetooth intercoms while riding being a constant topic of debate, without justifying or dissing either let me just add what I have settled down for.In terms of absolute riding noise reduction, no earplug can cut out as much noise as something like the disposable 3M EAR Soft FX, but they come at the cost of not being able to hear music, speech or engine sound anywhere near as well. I don’t feel comfortable riding in near silence –it feels like I’m a bit too far removed from my surroundings. Since hearing usually plays second fiddle to vision when riding motorcycles, people sometimes forget how vulnerable their ears are out there on the road. The sound of your helmet traveling through the air at highway speeds is more than enough to damage your hearing over the long term – or even the short term if you’re wearing an open face or half-helmet. While it may go counter to your initial thoughts, wearing earplugs can actually help you hear better. When your ears aren’t completely overwhelmed, you have the ability to hear more sounds. Was not really satisfied with this product, as it could not provide the comfort which I hoped it would. Then I misplaced it and thought of buying 3M earplugs which cost pretty less and are generally use-and-throw variants. And NoNoise plugs come in a tube with a keyring, so you always have a place to put them. As do the earplugs from BikeIt. On tour, those hours turned into days as I spent weeks at a time blasting across the luscious mountain passes this planet has to offer us.

It IS DANGEROUS for the rider if he cannot relate to outside noise, especially in these kinda bikes - So kindly reconsider - The rider ought to be aware of his sorroundings that get surreal and reduced range/degree of vision as the speed increases. The fatigue could be due to improper riding gear! Having tested a wide variety of earplugs I would suggest that the Loop Quiet earplugs are the next best thing to moulded plugs, but they don’t stop working when your ear canal changes shape. They won’t break the bank for that matter, either. SNR is an average figure because different ear plugs will reduce different frequencies at different levels. But the SNR rating shows the number of decibels the ear plugs will cut out.

The moulding process is simple enough, although (as mentioned) watch the YouTube video before you start. Tests carried out by our sister publication RiDE magazine in conjunction with ISVR Consulting, a noise and vibration research centre based at the University of Southampton, found that at 70 mph on an unfaired bike, the sound pressure level was just over 101dB and the time to significant risk of damage to hearing took just 3 minutes 34 seconds. Endure this for any sustained period of time and it’s likely to result in permanent hearing loss. The best helmets are developed in a wind tunnel to reduce drag and noise levels as much as possible, but as ISVR Consulting found, the design of the motorcycle has a huge impact on the noise levels a rider is subjected to; the wake from a screen contributes a lot, as anyone who’s stood up into the ‘clean’ airflow while riding will know. Earplugs are designed to remove the deep tones of wind noise, but still allow as much speech and other sounds through as possible. It’s inevitable that you will hear less with something plugging up your ear canal, but if you don’t wear earplugs, it won’t be long before you can’t hear anyway. I've never had wind noise so bad that I cannot hear vehicles (the silent Volvos with rear engines are a different breed).

Two different sizes of hypoallergenic silicone triple flanged shells are included with the Eargasm High Fidelity, and a smaller ears version is also available. As with other filtered plugs, they’re designed to keep the wearer in touch with their surroundings, but unique to Eargasm is a choice of colored filters and matching waterproof aluminum case.As we say never judge the book by its cover, this product too is pretty good. I would any day recommend this product to all my friends out here.

You’ll sometimes find an H, M or L rating on your ear plugs. This stands for High, Medium and Low frequency and gives a numerical rating to the amount of high, medium and low frequency sound they cut out. I’m very happy with the Decibullz motorcycle earplugs. The protective qualities are up there with foam plugs – but they are much more comfortable. On extended rides, I don’t find my ears get hot (like they do with foam plugs). And they’re also significantly easier to retrieve than silicon plugs!The 3M ear plugs are way too quiet. I used them for 2500 kms and I could barely hear anything. Also, I felt suffocated, especially while riding through traffic and used to have this crazy urge to open up my helmet and just hear the outside world. So in an attempt to preserve my hearing health, I pledged to look after my ears from now into the future. Foam Motorcycle Earplugs