Hearing Protection

[tango59]

I started losing my hearing in my late 20's and I'm 49 now. I only wore hearing protection when shooting. Never even considered it for anything else. I don't work in a real loud environment (just a bit noisey). Early this year my ears began ringing constantly and I noticed I was having more trouble hearing. Went to the Ear doc a couple of weeks ago and after several test was told I must get hearing aids as I have a profound loss above 2500hz. Unless you have a sudden complete hearing loss you don't even realize it's happening.  Wear ear protection

[doublenaughtspy]

Ditto!  I wore the little orange bullets for years.  This spring I sprung for custom molded plugs.  They cost me about $70 but they are more comfortable for long days.  I wear them when doing yardwork, as well.  Seems I drink more beer on those days....hhmmmm   I encourage everyone I know to use some sort of protection, but you can only lead the horse to water.  There was a good article in Mcyclist or one of the big ones last month that outlines the science.

[tango59]

I'm gonna get the earmolds too. Audiologist recommended them for riding and shooting.

[Vidrazor]

I use Hearos every time I go out on my bike. I never mess with that. Learned that ages ago flying Pipers. Here's what I use:



Very soft and comfortable, and most importantly, effective. I can wear them all day long. By the way, some of the brightly-colored plugs tend to color your ears. I wound up with green ears once. I always use this color.

[Down Under]

I had a set of molded plugs made up about 6 months ago.  They are comfortable for all day rides but they aren't as effective at reducing noise as foam plugs.  I've been using foam plugs for years and after using my new molded plugs on long trips the noise levels seemed marginally louder than with foamies.....was it my imagination?  I just assumed that molded plugs provided a higher level of protection. 

Yep.....I was wrong......an audiologist who was visiting our work place said that good quality foam plugs are better than molded silicon plugs at protecting your hearing.  Still in doubt I did a bit of fact finding on the internet and he was correct!

So I guess wearing a molded ear plug is still better than nothing but before you go out and spend up on molded ear plugs the old foam plug offers more protection for less money.

[tango59]

I bought a 100ct box of cheap foam plugs about a month ago and they are not worth squat. Bought some similar to the "Hearos" Vidrazor posted and they work great. No more rides without um. A couple of bucks for foam plugs vs 3k bucks for hearing aids. Damn did my math suck.

[doublenaughtspy]

The molded ones are not as effective, but mine are more comfortable than the orange bullet foamies I was using.  I'm sure it's only a dB or two, but it is noticable.  Just think how noticable the difference is between plugs and no plugs!  I've used the hearos, too.  They are great!  I would suggest getting a bunch of different ones and decide what is best for the individual.  The ones with the little stems used to insert them without rolling them first are good for shooting, but they got caught on the sides of my helmet when I put it on.  The bottom line remains: wear something now or you WILL wear something later.  Happy Trails!

[billincentraljersey]

Not all foam plus are equal.  Not only are they rated different noise reduction levels, but even different brands with same level of noise reduction perform differently.  One would seat better than another and the better seal one would be quieter, even though they both are rated the same.

Bought a huge pack of foam plugs from Home Depot over 10 years ago.  They were green and hex shape (honeycomb).  Not as comfortable, not as good in noise attenuation.  I do not use them for riding.  My family use them for lawn mower, leaf blower, and weed whackers.  Still have half of them left !

The best ones were the yellow cylindrical ones, made by a big brand name that I forgot the name.  Problem is that many copy cat start to make theirs looking like the real deal.  Now I have to go try them all again to find the good ones. 

[Red01]

The best ones were the yellow cylindrical ones, made by a big brand name that I forgot the name.  Problem is that many copy cat start to make theirs looking like the real deal.  Now I have to go try them all again to find the good ones. 

You mean the E-A-R Classic (NRR 31)? 

They're OK, but there are others out there that are better.  We have the Classics at work, as well as Pura-Fit 6880 (almost a Kawasaki Green, NRR 33) and Howard Leight Max (bright orange, NRR 33).  I find either of the two latter ones to be more comfortable and better at their job.  I can't handle wearing the Classic's for long periods, but can easily wear the others.  Never experienced my ears turning colors with either either.

[billincentraljersey]

The best ones were the yellow cylindrical ones, made by a big brand name that I forgot the name.  Problem is that many copy cat start to make theirs looking like the real deal.  Now I have to go try them all again to find the good ones.  

You mean the E-A-R Classic (NRR 31)?  

They're OK, but there are others out there that are better.  We have the Classics at work, as well as Pura-Fit 6880 (almost a Kawasaki Green, NRR 33) and Howard Leight Max (bright orange, NRR 33).  I find either of the two latter ones to be more comfortable and better at their job.  I can't handle wearing the Classic's for long periods, but can easily wear the others.  Never experienced my ears turning colors with either either.

Yeah!  That's it.  I never remember where I got them when I had them.  I would buy a box and they seems to last forever and by the time I need a refill.  I forget where I got them from.  Most likely gun shop or sporting goods.  

Pura Fit and Howard Leight Max have the same shape and size?

[Vidrazor]

>>Never experienced my ears turning colors with either either.<<

I guess it depends on who makes 'em. The barrel types actually have the best noise reduction capability, but it comes at the price of additional pressure against your ear canal. For me I find them torturous, even over a small period of time. I suppose it doesn't bother everyone like that. The decibel difference of the Hearoes is only about 2 decibels so it's no big deal. I prefer the softer foam of the Hearoes, I can wear them all day.

[Red01]

Pura Fit and Howard Leight Max have the same shape and size?

These two are shaped more like the Hearos.  I've never tried the Hearos, but from the looks of them, they look like they're made out of a similar type of softer foam like the Pura Fit and Max plugs, so I would expect them to be as comfortable.


http://www.moldex.com/hearing-protection/foam-earplugs/pura-fit.php


http://www.howardleight.com/segment/index/1

In addition to looking at gun shops & sporting goods stores, you could try a workwear/safety equipment store where construction/industrial workers go to buy safety shoes, reflective vests, etc.

The decibel difference of the Hearoes is only about 2 decibels so it's no big deal.

I disagree, but then I admit I'm a little anal on this subject.  It comes from my own negligence in my youth and paying the price now with tinitus.  
The way the decibel scale works, 2dB can matter.  On the decibel scale, the smallest audible sound (near total silence) is 0 dB. A sound 10 times more powerful is 10 dB. A sound 100 times more powerful than near total silence is 20 dB. A sound 1,000 times more powerful than near total silence is 30 dB, and so on, up the scale.  Exposure to sound levels of 85dB or more will cause permanent hearing loss, so you want to use the protection that will get you to a level below that.  I don't know what dB level we are exposed to riding along, especially considering all the variables (exhaust systems, helmets, windscreens, riding positions, city or country rides, etc.), but consider an "average"  lawn mower is is 90dB and a rock concert or jet engine at take-off is 120dB.  We're probably in between somewhere, so the extra 2dB could be the difference.  

FWIW, Hearos as shown in the previos pic is NRR 32, which is only 1dB lower than the highest rated ones on the market, and Hearos makes an Extreme model (that are blue) that has the NRR 33 rating.

I prefer the softer foam of the Hearoes, I can wear them all day.

There's the main thing though... the NRR rating is pointless if you won't wear the plugs because they're uncomfortable!  

[Vidrazor]

Well, from my own studies of decibels, an acoustic (as opposed to electronic) rise of 6 decibels is perceived as twice as loud. Oddly an acoustic drop of 3 decibels is considered half as loud. About 115-120 decibels is the threshold of pain, YMMV. As you'll see below, such numbers can be different, depending on source.

From this chart, bikes are averaged at around 100 decibels: http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/loudness.html I would say a sportbike can rise by ~6 decibels (acoustic) more on avarage, depending on the "enthusiasm" of the ride(r). We don't know if that figure is for the bike itself or if they're taking the bike's environment (riding at speed, wind noise, etc.) into consideration.

What you have to look at is the larger picture, however. Going from, say, the 100 decibel figure to 70 versus 68 decibels is not going to be that big a deal. The more the better, but at the target levels you wind up at it's not going to hurt the overall effectiveness of the earplug.

My 2 decibel figure was off the top of my head, incidentally. You seem to have found a smaller rated difference which would make for yet less of a big deal in the difference.

The REAL big deal is to make sure that one should wear even the shittiest earplug! 

[Barbarian]

When it comes to hearing, perception isn't quite the saem as reality.

In my student days I spent a lot of time in the recording studio, so I know whereof I speak. In reality, a 3 db change is twice as loud, but you need a 6 db change -- or more -- to get the perception of being twice as loud. Strange but true.

Then you get into the whole frequency shifting thing, where some high pitched noises are perceived as noisier than bass rumblings, even if they're quieter, just because they're annoying.

In any case I'm having my hearing checked in two weeks (doing it at the same time as my infant daughter) so I'l see how bad my hearing is.

[Vidrazor]

Unfortunately audiology tests only test for your ability to understand speech. Contrary to what you might think, they don't really tell how well you hear. Most audiology test measure hearing sensitivity between 250 Hz. to ~8kHz, with their peak concern between 1-4k. Hardware itself may test out to 12k, but they'll only test that far out only if you ask and they're in the mood to do so..

Ironically enough, hearing loss occurs from the outer edges of human hearing "inwards" towards this audiology goal. Typically high frequency loss occurs first, followed by low frequency loss. It's a non-linear process too, where you can wind up with "spectral holes" throughout your hearing. When those "holes" penetrate audiology frequency range, then they'll tell you that you have a hearing problem.

But even if you can't hear Jack from 250 down and/or 8k up (which, incidentally, is just slightly wider than AM radio bandwidth), they'll tell you your hearing's just fine.