Can you hear me now?

[dedsxy47]

Yes for sure that is a lot of information to digest.  The first time my brother used earplugs he yelled at me "It sounds louder  when I talk, these aren't going to help."  He did eventually start wearing them religiously after a 300-mile day and how loud his head felt; like he was angry and couldn't calm down. 
 
 
Not trying to insult the intelligence of those who already know how to do this properly but for those not sure how foam earplugs are supposed to fit or be installed here is a bit of reference material.  ignore the music on the video's (why do they have to ruin good videos with awful music?)
 
 
 
NO not like this
 
[/a]
 
 

 

[nicksta43]

Sadly the new plugs are no better than the old plugs.

[Panther6834]

Honestly I can’t understand why anyone would NOT wear earplugs whilst riding.  If you don’t wear earplugs you are doing permanent damage to your hearing.  This is not my opinion it is a statement of fact.  Earplugs do not prevent you hearing things you need to hear, they reduce the dangerous noise to a safe level. 

Well, I've been riding for 34 years (since I was 16), and I still have excellent hearing.  Granted, my hearing isn't what it was when I was younger, but that's probably due to age, as well as all the concerts I've attended over the past 35 years.  I've also known countless other people who have ridden their entire lives, without earplugs, and who don't have any noticeable problems, which includes some whose jobs revolve around good hearing.  Now, I'm NOT advocating riding without earplugs...if you need them, wear them, and, if you don't, then don't. I had my hearing tested a little over a year ago, and there was no noticeable difference between that test's results, my hearing test from 5 years earlier, or the results from the test 5 years before that.  Based on that, I'd say I'm doing pretty good for someone 50 years young. 
 
To claim that all people who ride motorcycles need to wear earplugs, or face losing some hearing ability would be akin to those (false) charts that "indicate" how much alcohol a person can drink without getting drunk, purely on their age & weight.  Just as there are many factors that affect a person's blood-alcohol level, there are also many factors that determine how much hearing loss a person will incur...it's not a "blanket policy" that affects everyone the exact same.  As with anything medically-related, different things affect different people differently.
 
 
 

[dedsxy47]

I took care of a man who was going on his 102nd birthday. He smoked Camel's, 2 packs a day for 50 years. Per his report, the doctor said he had the lungs of a teenager. You are correct, there are many factors which affect people as to their response to disease and disease progression. How many people have died as a result of smoking? Does smoking cause cancer or is it a significant contributing factor in the onset of the disease? As a whole, we now know smoking is a major contributing factor to cancer. Can people get lung cancer who have never smoked, who have never worked in a factory and were never exposed to 2nd hand smoke? Absolutely. But compare that number with the number of people who get cancer related to tobacco use.
 
This is not a cancer debate but a comparison of factors contributing to the onset of disease or injury. One could use Panther6834's example and my 102-year-old gentleman as models for behavior. But realistically the more proactive you are in protecting yourself, the better off you may be in the long run.
 
With all that being said, I wholeheartedly agree, things affect people differently and people have the right to their own choices in life. People are always telling me how dangerous motorcycles are even though I stand before them wearing $1800 worth of gear, 15 years as an MSF instructor and 30 accident-free years of riding experience (all no match for distracted drivers on their cell phones).
 
Dare I throw in the Helmet debate? In Minnesota, we have the choice to wear one or not. Could I get smoked wearing all my fancy gear and still die, even if I am doing everything correctly? Nowadays, you bet. Does it protect me from something which otherwise would have caused unnecessary injury? I believe so which is why I chose to protect myself.
 
What does all this mean? Do what works for you, respect other's decisions even if they are not in agreement with your own and do not complain about an injury or disease process you suffer which you are 100% responsible for because you failed to protect yourself from it.

[jo1000]

Honestly, I can't understand why anyone would wear earplugs while riding...been riding 34 years, and I've always GREATLY enjoyed the sounds of the engine, road, wind (as long as it's not LOUD wind), etc. 
Besides (and, more importantly),as you pointed out yourself, you can finally hear the sounds of other vehicles, which is something EVERY rider NEEDS to be able to hear. When riding a bike...be it motorcycle, or bicycle...your ears are your second-greatest asset, right after your riding skills. I can't tell you how many times I've avoided getting hit, purely because I heard something that, had I not heard of, I might not be here now. While some of those occurrences might have been my fault, even more of them were the results of other driver's impatience, drivers attempting to cut me off, and so forth.

Damage to your ear drum is the biggest reason I wear ear plugs. There is a fiber that wraps around your ear drum and the more your ear drum vibrates from high pitched sounds such as wind noise, this fiber will wear off. That's when the problems start to happen such as Tinnitus , there will be a constant buzzing in your head . Or you could hear every beat of your heart, for the  rest of your life !!

[BBB]

For sure, earplugs are a personal choice and preference. For short journeys I don’t bother, but for anything where I’m out for any decent length of time the plugs go in.
 
I’ve tried the foam type and they block all noise, but I feel very isolated from my ride and feel that I ride worse due to the dislocation from what I’m doing. I find my concentration drifts and it feels more like a computer game than reality.
 
In contrast I wear Pinlock ear plugs that have a high frequency filter insert in them. I can hear traffic, the engine, car horns and music from my Sena 10u. But, the high frequency wind noise and hiss has gone. It’s the high frequency sound that detoriates with age and sustained high volume noise, as it damages the short hairs in the cochlea. That damage is irreversible so I’m trying to avoid damaging my hearing this way. The Pinlock earplugs strike that balance between avoiding the feeling of disconnection and protecting my hearing for the future. YMMV of course.

[captainscarlet]

[span style=font-size:12pt]To claim that all people who ride motorcycles need to wear earplugs, or face losing some hearing ability would be akin to those (false) charts that "indicate" how much alcohol a person can drink without getting drunk, purely on their age & weight.  Just as there are many factors that affect a person's blood-alcohol level, there are also many factors that determine how much hearing loss a person will incur...it's not a "blanket policy" that affects everyone the exact same.  As with anything medically-related, different things affect different people differently.[/span] 
 

That is an appalling analogy.  If you expose yourself to 100 decibels of noise for anything more than 15 minutes you will suffer hearing damage, doesn't matter who you are.  This has been medically and scientifically tested.  It is not at all a comparable situation to drinking and alcohol levels in the blood. 
But you're right my blanket statement is not correct.  If you ride at speeds in excess of 120 kph for any length of time you are causing permanent damage to your hearing because at this speed in tested conditions wind noise exceeds 100 decibels.  I assume that most riders are at some point riding at these speeds and perhaps for longer periods of time.  But if you're just pootling around town then no you are not damaging your hearing.
 
However one very important point which I reiterate and many people falsely assume is that earplugs make you less safe.  The reverse is in fact the case.  I quote from the article I linked to in my previous post.
 
Why earplugs make you safer
Our ears are not designed to work at 100 decibels. Humans didn't evolve in an environment where we were riding motorcycles, operating chain saws, working in factories, etc. And that's why earplugs don't reduce your safety. Earplugs don't "block out" sounds you need to hear, such as sirens, other vehicles, horns blowing, and so on. They reduce the overall sound pressure so that your ears can operate in a more natural range. This lets you distinguish sounds better. You're more likely to hear that siren because your ears aren't overwhelmed with 100+ decibels of pressure.
 
So in fact by not wearing earplugs even at speeds lower than 120 kph you're reducing your ability to hear important sounds thereby making yourself a less safe rider.
 
Given these FACTS I personally cannot understand why anyone would not wear earplugs.  They protect your hearing, make you more aware of your surroundings and reduce fatigue.  As far as I can see there are only positives associated with using plugs and negatives associated with not using them.
 
But each to their own.  I can't understand people who ride without a helmet or in t-shirts and flip-flops, but let's not go there.
 
CS
 
 
 
 

[dedsxy47]

Again,
 
Guns and Ammo article by Horman 2013 stating " the purpose of hearing protection devices is not to eliminate sound, but to reduce the impact to a level that does not cause lasting damage. In short, a plethora of scientific studies conducted over many years show hearing protection works, and it works at the sound-muffling levels common devices provide."
 

[betoney]

[span style=font-size:12pt]To claim that all people who ride motorcycles need to wear earplugs, or face losing some hearing ability would be akin to those (false) charts that "indicate" how much alcohol a person can drink without getting drunk, purely on their age & weight.  Just as there are many factors that affect a person's blood-alcohol level, there are also many factors that determine how much hearing loss a person will incur...it's not a "blanket policy" that affects everyone the exact same.  As with anything medically-related, different things affect different people differently.[/span] 
 

That is an appalling analogy.  If you expose yourself to 100 decibels of noise for anything more than 15 minutes you will suffer hearing damage, doesn't matter who you are.  This has been medically and scientifically tested.  It is not at all a comparable situation to drinking and alcohol levels in the blood. 
But you're right my blanket statement is not correct.  If you ride at speeds in excess of 120 kph for any length of time you are causing permanent damage to your hearing because at this speed in tested conditions wind noise exceeds 100 decibels.  I assume that most riders are at some point riding at these speeds and perhaps for longer periods of time.  But if you're just pootling around town then no you are not damaging your hearing.
 
However one very important point which I reiterate and many people falsely assume is that earplugs make you less safe.  The reverse is in fact the case.  I quote from the article I linked to in my previous post.
 
Why earplugs make you safer
Our ears are not designed to work at 100 decibels. Humans didn't evolve in an environment where we were riding motorcycles, operating chain saws, working in factories, etc. And that's why earplugs don't reduce your safety. Earplugs don't "block out" sounds you need to hear, such as sirens, other vehicles, horns blowing, and so on. They reduce the overall sound pressure so that your ears can operate in a more natural range. This lets you distinguish sounds better. You're more likely to hear that siren because your ears aren't overwhelmed with 100+ decibels of pressure.
 
So in fact by not wearing earplugs even at speeds lower than 120 kph you're reducing your ability to hear important sounds thereby making yourself a less safe rider.
 
Given these FACTS I personally cannot understand why anyone would not wear earplugs.  They protect your hearing, make you more aware of your surroundings and reduce fatigue.  As far as I can see there are only positives associated with using plugs and negatives associated with not using them.
 
But each to their own.  I can't understand people who ride without a helmet or in t-shirts and flip-flops, but let's not go there.
 
CS
 
 
 

Im not so scientific in my approach, when I’m in a loud environment my ears hurt, when I stick my fingers in my ears to block the sound pressure, they don’t hurt anymore.  I wear earplugs.  8-)

[1moreroad]

So let's say the sound of wind hitting my helmet is 85dB. Without earplugs I'm not able to pick that particular frequency out due to all of the other noise I'm hearing is at or above that dB level. However with the plugs in and the ear canal blocked let's say my earplugs are knocking all the other sound down 33dB which is their rating. So all the other sound is now 52dB at my eardrum. The helmet now is transmitting that wind blast to the bones in my skull and due to the occlusion effect I'm hearing that particular frequency now at 105dB, which is loud on its own but stands out even more because it's 53dB louder than all the other noise.

 
This doesn't make sense to me. Noise at the ear opening dropped from 85 to 52. I get that. But the wind was hitting your neck with the same intensity with or without the ear plugs. I would understand if the wind at the neck produced, say, an 82 dB low bass noise that you could only perceive with the ear plugs in.
 
I have a friend who is an acoustics physicist. I'll ask him about it.
 
WRT ear plugs - my Bose ear plugs block more noise overall than my 33 dB foam ear plugs with or without music. They are something you might want to investigate. There are high pitched sounds that the Bose plugs can't counteract that I definitely hear more than with the ear plugs, but the overall noise level across frequencies is lower.

[koth442]

I have a friend who is an acoustics physicist. I'll ask him about it.

Hehehe. Expect to hear the words "Fourier transform" a lot.

[1moreroad]

I have a friend who is an acoustics physicist. I'll ask him about it.

Hehehe. Expect to hear the words "Fourier transform" a lot.

I asked my physicist friend.  Here is his explanation: When you put earplugs in, you reduce the noise at the ear opening and reduce the damage potentially being done to the eardrum.
 
 
The brain has automatic gain control based on sound levels at the eardrum.   By putting earplugs in and reducing volume at the eardrum, the brain dials up the gain on all perceived sound and you perceive the bone conduction as much louder.  So 85 dB overall noise at the ear gets reduced to 52 dB.  In the meantime, the 82 dB bone conduction (half the strength of the noise at the outside of the earplug) is perceived as very loud.
 
 
The bone conduction noise isn't doing any physical damage, but because of the perceived loudness, it could contribute to fatigue or distraction.