Never tried them out. Probably too late now.

 

Too many gunshots, racing motors, etc.has resulted in a loud "woooooo" in my ears, very noticeable in a quiet room. I use plugs religiously to block the wind noise on my bike, in the hopes of not worsening this condition.

Even WITH plugs, a long day ridingcan certainly exceed OSHA standards.

OSHAPERMISSIBLE NOISE EXPOSURES (1)
__________________________________________________ ____________
|
Duration per day, hours | Sound level dBA slow response
____________________________|_____________________ ____________
|
8...........................| 90
6...........................| 92
4...........................| 95
3...........................| 97
2...........................| 100
1 1/2 ......................| 102
1...........................| 105
1/2 ........................| 110
1/4 or less................| 115
____________________________|_____________________ ___________

If you cruise all day without a helmet (or worse, in a half helmet), you are at about 120 db of wind noise at the canal. Real world effectiveness of a 30 db foam plug is about a 25 db reduction. So, you can see you are at 95 db for let's say 10 hours, which greatly exceeds OSHA's standard.

I think there is a lot of bone induction noise at speed. Meaning the air hitting your head/face actually makes it way to the eardrum without coming in the ear canal. That seems very loud to me and does not drop when I clasp both hands over both my ears...

It's a lot different from gunshots because of the duration. You might be getting 120 db from firing your .50 BMG, but only for 1/10 of a second. You are out all day on a bike.

I don't have an answer for this, it is what it is. I guess a full face helmet might help.

 

I use Sony Plugs, attached to my MP3 player

 

Always wear my earplugs when riding. I have a couple dozen pairs of the foam ones. I wear them one time and throw them in a jar. When there are enough dirty ones, the wife puts them in a mesh bag and runs them through the washing machine.
Tom

 

On that fits you well. One of the reasons I went with a 3/4 helmet was for the ear/noise reduction. It is a HJC and has nice soft padded muffs around the ears.

 

I play guitar thru a Marshall.....don't think wind noise matters much at this stage of the game......

 

I don't really notice a noise problem with my 3/4 helmet on but this is based on the 20-40 mile rides I take, none of which are on the highway.

 

As a retired rock musician with 30% of my hearing left(and probably 60% of my liver [sm=icon_guiness.gif]) wearing earplugs may save what little hearing I have left; although the earplug will not help the liver. I have to say after I started to wear earplugs while playing live, and atconcertsthe music started to sound a lot more crisp and clear. Although, I haven't tried wearing them riding with my tunes cranking on the bike I'm going to give it a go today. Thanks Guys I like this idea ..........

 

Looks like SPAM to me!
.[sm=sign14.gif][sm=sign14.gif][sm=sign14.gif]
"ever hear of these plugs?" and then links a site for a whole variety of hearing protection.

 

Nope not spamming them at all.