Can You Hear Me?

     Myself and Col have always ridden using Ear plugs since reading an article on the subject of hearing loss in a growing number of motorcyclists in a bike mag in the late 90s. It has been proved that riding a motorcycle at 60mph has enough of the engine noise,exhaust note but mostly the wind noise rushing past your helmet to produce more than 90 decibels which is enough to cause hearing problems like tinitus and hearing loss. Recently I was talking to Rich about this so thought I would do a post on the humble but hearing saving ear plugs.


 So with that in mind hear are our findings. (see what I've done there? hear, here,Oh forget it!)


Plugs
There's lots of them to choose from ranging from little bits of round foam or sponge, the longer spark design types, one's that look like mini Christmas trees, to specially made silicon types and even ones that can be made to fit by taking a cast of the inside of your ear so it fits perfectly.
We have tried a number of types but the best ones we have used are coincidentally the cheapest ones, which are called E.A.R. Plugs Classic. These are supplied in abundance on ebay, you can get 20 pairs for £3.50.

Our Favourites

Fitting the Ear Plug.
     We found rolling and squeezing between your fingers the one end so that it looks like a Y shape. Stick the thin bit into your ear, wait about 60 seconds while it expands and everything starts to go quiet. Shh!
Sometimes the one side might need re doing as it hasnt expanded properly, the technical term for this is the ear plug has failed to aggrandize (yeah it is a word).
We prefer the shorter ones that dont rub on the inside of your crash helmet as those that do will eventually work loose and you can feel off balance when that happens.
 When your happy, helmet on and away you go.

Using the Ear Plug
    What you ll notice is you can still hear the engine, exhaust and wind, not to mention the cars around you, the rain on your visor, dogs barking, sheep shagging and horns blowing.
Just quieter than normal, any odd rattles and hums instantly disperse when using the plugs, with the visor locked down, its like stepping into a luxury car and closing the door! #

 When ridding along motorways or boring types of roads something that I like to do is find the speed and engine note that when using ear plugs make the bike almost silent, its is between 65 and 70 in 6th gear on my bike, all you hear is the whine of the gears.
I imagine it could be a taste of the future and how electric bikes may sound, well maybe! 

Fits nicely

Some of the others