I have never worn ear plug while riding. Never really seen the need to do so. So I pose a question to you, do you wear ear plugs? If so why besides obvious reasons of protecting your hearing, I mean is your exhaust THAT loud? And if not, are you like me and just haven’t felt the need or even thought about ear plugs?

 

I have worn em b4, I dont do it regularly tho. IMO it blocks out too much n tends to make me zone out too much, same when listening to a mp3 player.

But its not so much to drown out exhaust noise, but rather wind noise, engine noise etc, and/or all of em combined. After years of exposure to the db's of the noises from riding it can severely affect your hearing in a negative way.

 

IMO ear plugs would impair your ability to hear a horn in case of emergency or the like.

That being said, I've never worn ear plugs while riding, however, I have worn headphones from my ipod. Usually the exhaust partially drones out most of anything you can hear anyway (at least on my bike).

 

Surprisingly they dont tho, but a mp3 player would

 

they make ear plugs that block out high db sounds and let the lower freq,through. like talking. horn ect. I wear a pair that i paid $20 for at a px here in Iraq, everytime I go out of the wire in my loud truck i wear them. Unless we have internal coms.

 

ive worn them on long rides and have noticed less ringing in my ears afterwards, i dont usually wear them tho...being an ironworker ive used earplugs often in the field and in the shop, ive seen alot of oldtimmers in my trade with major hearing loss, now i even wear em when i cut the grass...especially when we go to shoot off a couple hundred rounds....

 

I dont wear them usually for the stop and go commute to work, but weekend rides on the parkways I do.. makes higher speed and wind noise much more enjoyable.

 

thats not the reason why people should wear earplugs. its got NOTHING to do with how loud your exhaust/engine is.. its the wind noise!!!!!

above 50mph it takes just 15minutes to do irreversable damage to your hearing. fact!

the damage is cumulative.

tinnitus is not a nice thing to live with.

quite frankly i dont want to spend the rest of my life with a constant whine in my ear (other than the mrs ) so i choose to wear earplugs.

that said i got a whisper strip for xmas and that completely cut out the wind noise for any speed below 100 ish so on the one time i managed to get out on the bike after xmas before all teh snow we're having in the uk i didnt wear my plugs but still had em on me just in case.

in short you WILL damage your ears if you're not wearing earplugs whether you think you are or not. if you can hear wind noise with no plugs in.. its doing damage.

i personally choose the 'not damage' option

 

+1
My brother rides in the U.K,hadnt spoken for a few years ,one day he asked me..."Do you wear Ear Plugs..?"
Exactly what you quoted above,still,i dont wear em............

 

I always wear earplugs when riding - far more pleasant than listening to wind noise IMHO. I can still hear everything well enough to ride safely, but hopefully am doing enough to avoid damaging my hearing.