I have researched the forum and haven't found a good answer to how much attenuation to have in my custom ear plugs. I have read that the ones musicians use are good for motorcyclist and they can be 9,15 or 25 db. I don't know which to get. There have to be many guys on this forum that use them and I would appreciate any input.

 

I use the ones from work. They are rated for 30 db.

 

It is difficult to determine what your needs are, and also the accuity of your hearing ( many of us have hearing loss from age, occupation or both).

the better approach is to try various types of cheapo foam plugs and see what works for you.

from there, if you wish you can have an audiologist make molds of your ear canal and get custom fit plugs

self fit plug lits are also available from guitar center or some gun shops.

myself i find 25dB too much, and 15 not enough.

for the most part, i wear pro-quality earbuds which keep the music in and the noise out- I have a earphone jack wired into my stereo

mike

 

I use foam plugs with a Noise Reduction Rating (NRR) 33.

 

I use the 27 db attenuated foam ear plugs and they are spot on for me.

 

So the larger the db number the more attenuation. The bike has RF-300 amp and polk speakers and i want to be able to hear the music at 80 MPH

 

You will still hear the music with plugs it just dampens the background noise by 27 db.
So you can hear the music better with the plugs.
I know it sounds weird, but that is how it works.

 

I'm using Surfire plugs rated at 16 db. For me it is just enough to kill the wind noise but still alow me to hear the stereo.

 

Your going to make yourself nuts getting the correct protection if your still wanting music to be heard, you may have to choose which is more important. I would follow the earbud advice.....good luck.

 

Correct,
the problem is human hearing is rated at 10 hz to 20 K hz. Music obviously falls into this bandwidth.
You could also go after specific frequency attenuation along with decibal level, as I suspect Mike would elude to. If you are serious enough about it you could spend alot of $$$$ and get set up just exactly the way you want to. Filter specific frequencies at stronger levels (higher DB) than others.