Ear plugs Question

[RRrider]

Everybody knows how they work right? You twist them into a little spear and slide them into the canal where they expand. If you have to, a little spit is an ok lube. You can push them in too deep and irritate your eardrum tho.

Roll. Pull. Hold.

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/topics/hearingloss/earplug.htm

1. Roll
the earplug up into a small, thin "snake" with your fingers. You can use one or both hands.

2. Pull
the top of your ear up and back with your opposite hand to straighten out your ear canal. The rolled-up earplug should slide right in.

3. Hold
the earplug in with your finger. Count to 20 or 30 out loud while waiting for the plug to expand and fill the ear canal. Your voice will sound muffled when the plug has made a good seal.

 

[tonedeaf]

wtf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinnitus

Ah! now I finally understand why I have this: "Withdrawal from a benzodiazepine addiction may cause tinnitus as well." (wiki).

j/k. I don't think i have tinnitus. or, more accurately, since it's a symptom and not a disease (therefore I'm sure everybody falls somewhere on a large gradual scale of severity, rather than a "line" drawn between people that "have it" and "don't have it"), I think I am very far to the unharmed side. I've been a musician for years and been to many a loud show, but wear earplugs like a good boy (most of the time...) and have been checked recently, no significant loss in either ear yet. so that ringing after wearing the plugs on a ride is interesting to me...It is after you hop off from a good jaunt, before you take the plugs out, a high-pitched ringing in both ears....not obnoxious or painful, but noticeable. bet it's from the benzodiazepine

 

[Abacinator]

I think the Howard Leights foam are 28db, maybe more.

The Leight Max and Super Leight foam plugs are NRR33. Safeway carries the Super Leight in a 10-pack with a little plastic storage canister that holds one pair

 

[SummerLove]

This sounds like a silly question: How much of your hearing do you want to save/protect?

I want all of mine, so I look for the plugs with the highest noise reduction rating. I refuse to use anything less than 33.

I'd like to save what I have left.. Lost a good chunk of the range in my left ear from an ND inside a building. ;-; Left ear was ringing for 6 months after that and finally stopped. I suppose I'll be picking up some better plugs in the very near future.

My reasoning was wondering at what point do noise levels stop becoming hazardous on a bit. In retrospect I realize that is going to vary widely from bike to bike and situation to situation.

 

[orbframe]

Roll. Pull. Hold.

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/topics/hearingloss/earplug.htm

1. Roll
the earplug up into a small, thin "snake" with your fingers. You can use one or both hands.

2. Pull
the top of your ear up and back with your opposite hand to straighten out your ear canal. The rolled-up earplug should slide right in.

3. Hold
the earplug in with your finger. Count to 20 or 30 out loud while waiting for the plug to expand and fill the ear canal. Your voice will sound muffled when the plug has made a good seal.

and as a bonus, when you pull them out sometimes they take earwax with them

 

[kiltwearinfool]

Will I get used to the quieter engine noise and learn to hear my RPM's?
Will it help to get a helmet with less wind noise?
Will I have any need for ear plugs with a quiet helmet and stock exhaust?

I want my ears to work when I'm old!

1)Yes. Your brain has gotten used to "the bike is going this fast when it's this loud". It may take a little time, but you will recalibrate.
2)Yes. Less noise = less strain on your ears, and subsequently less strain on your body. A helmet with less wind noise may not help you "hear revs" any better, though.
3)Yes. Keeping your hearing is not about short term exposure, it's about the sustained exposure near the damage threshold.

4) Your ears will work no matter how old you are - holding up your sunglasses. Again, permanent hearing loss isn't about short term exposure. It's about listening to loud things at a sustained duration long enough for the brain to say "screw this, I'm shutting off".

 

[BluesCruiser]

Get them completely inserted correctly and they won't come out.

I wear the reusable kind that have the little stem sticking out. Before fastening the strap I reach up inside the helmet and push them back in again. When I stop for more than a minute or two I pull them out. That sort-of rests my ears and seems to cut down on the ringing at the end of a long day.

A Navy doc who diagnosed my hearing loss put it sort-of like this... We all start off with a certain amount of hearing. Over time we gradually use up what we have. When its all used up then we have problems. The more you protect your ears from loud noises the slower you use it up, but you are still using it up to some extend even with less noise. That's why older guys are always saying "WHAT?" They've used theirs up.

So your Mom was right when she used to say "TURN THAT MUSIC DOWN OR YOU'LL GO DEAF!!"

 

[tonedeaf]

^ +1

I'm realizing more and more that's the case with a lot of parts in the body, like my back all those flips I used to do in gymnastics, I thought were making my back and joints more nimble and strong.....that's true in the short term, but I was also using them up permanently, very quickly. Then I realized we are (basically) all given a back and joints and ears etc., and some people use them up at a young age to do extreme things, and others use them lightly for their whole lives without failure. That's when I started noticing that every gymnast over 30 is basically crippled.

I say, good thing motorcycling is a non-impact sport! ......ideally

 

[1footdown]

I read this thread every day since last week, and promptly obtained 5 pairs of Leight laser lite foam plugs (NRR32) on Friday. I went riding today and remembered (or forgot) my plugs as I was riding down the 92 towards Skyline.

Damn. And boy, was it whistling, from the wind gusts. Went down to Pescadero and back, and my ears are ringing a little bit right now. I'm going to put them in my riding jacket, so they will always be with me when I ride.

 

[Sane_Man]

I read this thread every day since last week, and promptly obtained 5 pairs of Leight laser lite foam plugs (NRR32) on Friday. I went riding today and remembered (or forgot) my plugs as I was riding down the 92 towards Skyline.

Damn. And boy, was it whistling, from the wind gusts. Went down to Pescadero and back, and my ears are ringing a little bit right now. I'm going to put them in my riding jacket, so they will always be with me when I ride.

Once you've worn them for a few days or maybe a week, you'll feel naked riding without earplugs. That whistling will drive you nuts and force you to stop and insert your plugs.

 

[CoolBDPhenom03]

The Leight Max and Super Leight foam plugs are NRR33. Safeway carries the Super Leight in a 10-pack with a little plastic storage canister that holds one pair

Yep! Got a set of 10 (5 pair) the other day. They work great! How long do you keep these before you throw them out? I have some reusable Etymotic ones but I think they're only NRR 15 or 20.

 

[Angel-be-Good]

I ride a Ninja 250 with a stock pipe and can hear my RPMs just fine. (Maybe 'cause it's always 9,000+.)

It blows my mind that more people don't ride with ear plugs.

 

[hh328]

I can certainly attest to the suck factor of tinnitus. I can't say for certain but I believe it's due to early years of riding with no hearing protection and firearm usage. I distinctly remember having that ringing (like after attending a loud concert) after long rides and days at the range. Now I have permanent ringing. It's annoying but most of the time I can tune it out, especially if I use a white noise generator/noise canceling headphones. But when it's really quiet it becomes very pronounced, and I sometimes have a difficult time falling asleep.

A few years ago I saw an audiologist and she tested my range of hearing. It turns out I have a deficit at certain frequency ranges. She took a baseline and now I have regular retesting scheduled every couple of years to track the loss. I asked her if I should just forget about hearing protection since I have tinnitus already and she was adamant that I should continue to use protection as it will help preserve the hearing I have and retard any further hearing loss.

 

[Lovedoc]

Hearing loss is surprisingly crippling in your golden years.

 

[thenewwazoo]

'Nuff said.

 

[SirSkankin DBA]

Supposedly the Shoei Quest is the quietest on the market right now.

Just picked up a Qwest about two weeks ago. Though it quiets all the other noises...the wind noise is still fairly loud. I think maybe because all the other noises are quieter, it makes the wind noise more prominent. But definitely love the helmet and with plugs in, makes for a super comfy and calm ride.

 

[davidji]

Everybody knows how they work right? You twist them into a little spear and slide them into the canal where they expand. If you have to, a little spit is an ok lube. You can push them in too deep and irritate your eardrum tho.

I don't have great luck with those. slim-fit ones are easier for me to insert than the regular kind, but even with those, my ear canal needs to be wet to reliably get them into one side. Wetting the plug itself though only makes it harder to fit.

They also make push-in (no rolling) foam plugs like these. Anyone use them? That's prolly what I'll try next. And after that maybe a molded or custom plug.

I have a couple of types of wax plugs, and that's what I usually use. Don't block sound quite as well as foam, cost more, and don't last as long, but much faster and easier to fit. And they probably reduce noise enough for riding.

The question about how much nose reduction is needed on a bike is a good one. I wonder about the answers too. I think the noise we're exposed to is very much related to our helmet, and much worse with modern full-face helmets. BITD I had an open face and an old school full face lid, and I don't remember the wind noise with either. And recently I took a ride with a Harley brain-bucket, and it didn't seem to be loud either--but speeds may not have been high enough to tell.

 

[Lumberjack]

Ah! now I finally understand why I have this: "Withdrawal from a benzodiazepine addiction may cause tinnitus as well." (wiki).

j/k. I don't think i have tinnitus. or, more accurately, since it's a symptom and not a disease (therefore I'm sure everybody falls somewhere on a large gradual scale of severity, rather than a "line" drawn between people that "have it" and "don't have it"), I think I am very far to the unharmed side. I've been a musician for years and been to many a loud show, but wear earplugs like a good boy (most of the time...) and have been checked recently, no significant loss in either ear yet. so that ringing after wearing the plugs on a ride is interesting to me...It is after you hop off from a good jaunt, before you take the plugs out, a high-pitched ringing in both ears....not obnoxious or painful, but noticeable. bet it's from the benzodiazepine

I get the same thing - I hear the ringing only when and after wearing earplugs - especially if I'm still wearing them and go inside somewhere quiet, like the garage..

I wear the plugs anytime I'm doing more than a mile or two on the freeway.. Earplugs are just awesome for freeway trips - so much more peaceful and less fatiguing..

Around town, when I'm gonna be riding for a short while at speeds less than about 50mph - no, don't wear them and I'm pretty sure I don't need them - in my Shoei helmet it simply isn't very loud at all with wind noise at lower speeds..

The midrange commutes when some of the roads take me up to 70mph (45 speed limit + some hooliganism) for stretches I often don't wear earplugs and probably should..

I can hear everything well except people at lights.. That's what sucks about earplugs - riding the streets with friends, you can't have those brief convos at stoplights, and sometimes those convos are important in terms of deciding where you're going etc... I've also found myself unable to hear what the person in the car or bike next to me(stranger) was trying to say to me.. That's no good - especially when on one occasion for certain I had the impression they were telling me how cool I was on my bike.. Seriously though, earplugs around town pretty much suck unless I want to just be in my own world...

 

[Sane_Man]

I get the same thing - I hear the ringing only when and after wearing earplugs - especially if I'm still wearing them and go inside somewhere quiet, like the garage..

I wear the plugs anytime I'm doing more than a mile or two on the freeway.. Earplugs are just awesome for freeway trips - so much more peaceful and less fatiguing..

Around town, when I'm gonna be riding for a short while at speeds less than about 50mph - no, don't wear them and I'm pretty sure I don't need them - in my Shoei helmet it simply isn't very loud at all with wind noise at lower speeds..

The midrange commutes when some of the roads take me up to 70mph (45 speed limit + some hooliganism) for stretches I often don't wear earplugs and probably should..

I can hear everything well except people at lights.. That's what sucks about earplugs - riding the streets with friends, you can't have those brief convos at stoplights, and sometimes those convos are important in terms of deciding where you're going etc... I've also found myself unable to hear what the person in the car or bike next to me(stranger) was trying to say to me.. That's no good - especially when on one occasion for certain I had the impression they were telling me how cool I was on my bike.. Seriously though, earplugs around town pretty much suck unless I want to just be in my own world...

Sounds like you already have some sort of hearing damage, or the plugs you are currently wearing are ineffective in blocking harmful sounds.

 

[Lumberjack]

I don't understand - why would hearing damage symptoms manifest only after using earplugs? I don't have tinnitus generally (if its really quiet I can hear a high pitched ringing, very faintly - but it's been like that as long as I can remember (34 yrs old now) - I worked construction for many years though - lots of running saws and nailguns - couldn't have helped.. But overall, my hearing is very good, I think, and I don't have noticeable tinnitus..

My earplugs do a great job I'm pretty sure - I use those NR33 Hearos soft disposable plugs that were mentioned earlier in this thread.. If my hearing is being damaged with those in I don't know what to tell you..

I do know that putting the plugs in correctly is very important - if they don't go deep in the canal and form a good seal the noise is actually worse - sometimes, especially in the right ear, for some reason, the seal wont be right and I have to stop and redo it or the noise will drive me crazy - worse than without them in..