Earplugs/headphones

[Tom L]

Well as i've lost all my pairs of earplugs im starting to get rining in my ears when i get off my bike, and while not being medically qualified or anything, im guessing this probably isn't a good thing.

Anyway, one of my friends was telling me about these new headphones that double up as earplugs. I thought these would be perfect for motorway commuting as i could listen to music and not need to have it dangerously loud to hear it over the engine. I was wondering if anyone uses them, has heard of them or knows where i could buy a pair.

[speedy(delboy)]

Personally I don like earplugs, dont know why, they are a love/hate thing i think.

Also I think I would rather here some asswipe in a car getting to close than listening to music.

[tony]

will try and find the info, but theres some excellent plugs on the market, they are moulded to your ear, not cheap, but as someone with a hearing problem I know only too well how important it is to look after your hearing.

they were about £65 I think, but he visits you at home to takethe mould, and should they get damaged Im sure that they are replaced under the original deal etc

[speedy(delboy)]

will try and find the info, but theres some excellent plugs on the market, they are moulded to your ear, not cheap, but as someone with a hearing problem I know only too well how important it is to look after your hearing.

they were about £65 I think, but he visits you at home to takethe mould, and should they get damaged Im sure that they are replaced under the original deal etc

Yeh I have a ear moulded pair, but never wear them, cost me £50

[Jonny]

Guys he's a poor student ;) Think Budget.

Does anyone know here if 'noise reduction' earphones would help save your hearing on a bike?

[speedy(delboy)]

Guys he's a poor student ;) Think Budget.

Does anyone know here if 'noise reduction' earphones would help save your hearing on a bike?

Of course it will help, and protection on the ears will.

Ask Alex G about his ears, he has to always wear a pair, as he said he doesnt want to be deaf when he gets older, something to do with the air Db's.

[Tom L]

yeah jonny, thats what i was hoping, so i dont go deaf and get to listen to some tunes when driving on the motorway.

Found a pair on ebay of noise isolation headphones but were £209 quid i know i got my student loan today, but well, [censored] that

[Jonny]

Guys he's a poor student ;) Think Budget.

Does anyone know here if 'noise reduction' earphones would help save your hearing on a bike?

Of course it will help, and protection on the ears will.

Well okay then, I was thinking about how 'noise reduction' works

(Pulled from Wikipedia)

"Noise-cancelling headphones reduce unwanted ambient sounds (i.e., acoustic noise) by means of active noise control. Essentially, this involves using a microphone, placed near the ear, and electronic circuitry which generates an "antinoise" sound wave with the opposite polarity of the sound wave arriving at the microphone. This results in destructive interference, which cancels out the noise within the enclosed volume of the headphone."

I was worried that by creating another wave of opposite polarity you could be potentially doubling the stress induced on your ear drums without noticing it.


Oh and on this site is a list of earphones that use active noise canceling

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noise-cancelling_headphone

By the looks of things they are horrendously expensive.

You might be better off looking for a pair of 'insulating earphones' They create a seal that should dampen the wind noise about as effectivley as earplugs. Pretty sure Sennheiser sell them .

[fjrnobby]

Check out http://www.ultimateear.com They were at NEC bike show last year..Not cheap though.

[baskie]

Well as i've lost all my pairs of earplugs im starting to get rining in my ears when i get off my bike, and while not being medically qualified or anything, im guessing this probably isn't a good thing.

Anyway, one of my friends was telling me about these new headphones that double up as earplugs. I thought these would be perfect for motorway commuting as i could listen to music and not need to have it dangerously loud to hear it over the engine. I was wondering if anyone uses them, has heard of them or knows where i could buy a pair.

yeh use head phones. they do the same thing. obviously dont wack it up so loud ur ears are still ringing. lol. if u live in plymouth or can get there. if u go to a place called bogey Knights they seel pairs of ear defenders for like 10p if u buy enough he would probs do u for 5p a pair. these are obviously new. and come in a little white box. we used to use them on ex, and they more then good enough for a bike.

[chris_1127]

do many people find noise a real problem when riding? I find my AGV a bit noisy, but it feels like wearing a bucket anyway so I dont use it much. but my arai's pretty quiet, even at sustained naughty speeds. my bike runs k+n filters and a fruity exhaust, so its hardly quiet either, but i've never ended up with ringing ears after a ride-out, ever. Except maybe when following big twins on the motorway

as a note re ear plugs, a lot of them will filter out specific frequencies more efficiently than others. Boots and other chemists sell ear plugs for a variety of purposes with different levels of noise reduction, and at different frequencies. I guess wind noise would be fairly high frequency so might be worth looking out a pair of plugs with a low overall noise reduction so it doesnt cut too much important sound out, but with an emphasis on the higher end?

i find them really uncomfortable, but often use them to sleep as sound proofing is crap in my flat and my upstairs neighbour is a noisy little tw@

[Funky]

Pardon?

[Funky]

I have tried ear plugs, I tend not to wear them unless I'm going for a long lonely run. I'll wear one headphone so I don't get bored and can listen for woo woo's. It all depends how my mood takes me.

I use a wax plug that you press to shape and then can push tight into your ear.

The ringing in your ears is the last deaf scream of cells used for recording that frequency...you'll never hear that frequency as well again.

[TLS-Moose]

Around town I don't bother, but if gonna be riding for 20 miles or so (say Paignton from here) will wear plugs. I used to have some nice silicone/cotton wool filled things my mate got me a box of when working for BA, but since they ran out have used the squishy foam "Earfit" ones (got a box from work ) they can be expensive in small quantities, but a box of 100prs is about £15 - 20 from people like Greenham trading (depending on what discount you can screw) and do the job nicely

You actually find they cut a lot of "uneccessary" noise and allow you to hear the engine (and "woo-woo's") better.

From experience I have found them needed more on I4's than twins/singles due to the different exhaust frequencies. On my old Kat/Exup/GSX/GPz's i had to wear them for all but in-town riding to prevent ringing ears once stopped, whereas with the Guzzi's/Dukes/TL I could go to Plymouth and back with no real probs

[Jay]

Personally I don like earplugs, dont know why, they are a love/hate thing i think.

Also I think I would rather here some asswipe in a car getting to close than listening to music.

Ditto