Discussion
Really a personal preference thing, ive tried 1/2 dozen brands over the years and some custom made that work great but I cant be arsed cleaning as often as you should. In recent years found some Howard Leight that fit well and do the job...cheap enough to buy and try, throw away
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pairs-Howard-Leight-Laser...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pairs-Howard-Leight-Laser...
bogie said:
Really a personal preference thing, ive tried 1/2 dozen brands over the years and some custom made that work great but I cant be arsed cleaning as often as you should. In recent years found some Howard Leight that fit well and do the job...cheap enough to buy and try, throw away
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pairs-Howard-Leight-Laser...
The howard leight ones are good, you can buy mixed packs to find the ones that suit you best, you should always wear them as they make a huge difference.https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pairs-Howard-Leight-Laser...
I was using the laser lite ones but have now switched to these Auritech ones...
https://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/motorcycle_parts/...
https://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/motorcycle_parts/...
bogie said:
Really a personal preference thing, ive tried 1/2 dozen brands over the years and some custom made that work great but I cant be arsed cleaning as often as you should. In recent years found some Howard Leight that fit well and do the job...cheap enough to buy and try, throw away
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pairs-Howard-Leight-Laser...
These.https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pairs-Howard-Leight-Laser...
If you have never worn them for other purpose or been shown how to, worth a watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vHP8K3BsrA
I'll try and keep this simple and leave my Anorak off 
(no chance)
Hearing protection comes in different levels of protection. One of the biggest mistakes people make is thinking that more is better. In other words the bigger the number the more protection you have so it must be better. Wrong! It is very easy to over protect and that's when you can't hear anything and in the worse case it feels like sensory deprivation.
Most of the noise exposure for motorcyclist comes from wind noise hence there are lots of variables, time spent at speed, helmet type and design, fairings, screens and their position compared to rider size, etc etc.
There is a very good research paper by the association for European transport published in 2002 that does a good job of pulling all this together in relation to occupational exposure for police motorcyclists. In summary over 30mph it is likely that your exposure will be around 80 to 90 dB(A) and at high speed could be over 100dB(A). But unless you do this for many hours every day, like the police riders, it is very hard to guess your exposure.
The requirement for hearing protection in the UK (and Europe) at work is based on actions levels that you need to supply at 80dB(A) and mandate at 85dB(A) but this based on an 8 hour exposure. Things to bear in mind. These actions levels are based on the idea that someone is exposed to this levels 8hrs a day 5 days a week, any other exposure pattern needs to be calculated out.
The dB(A) thing means it is measured compared to the sensitivity of the human ear to various frequencies, Decibels (dB) are a logarithmic scale, therefore 3 dB is roughly a doubling in noise energy (eg a lot)So 83dB is double the noise energy of 80 dB, 86dB(A) is double the noise energy of 83dB(A) so there is hell of difference in exposure between 80dB(A) and a 100dB(A), but the human ear can only really start to tell things are nosier with a 5 dB difference, in other words we are rubbish at judging when noise levels are getting harmful.
So how by much do you need to reduce (attenuate) the noise? If we can reduce the exposure level at your ear to round 70dB(A) that would be about right and would still allow you hear a reasonable level of conversation/ traffic etc, if you reduce below 60dB(A) it feels odd!
So back to buying ear plugs You'll see two main pieces of of information on the box
1) SNR (single Number rating) this is the simplest way of assessing the amount of protection the ear plugs will give.
2) HML values (High, medium and low frequency) three figures.
There may also be a full octave band breakdown with lots of figures, Anorak required!
Focus on the SNR value, for most purposes this will do.
Let's take the example given above, the Howard leight Laser lite has an SNR of 35 dB(A), so if you if you were exposed to 100dB(A) the noise level at your ear would be 65dB(A), except we knock off 4 dB(A) of the SNR for what we call real world conditions (incorrect fitting by the user) so we would actually estimate a noise level at the ear of 69dB(A). So that is a fairly high level of protection and I would recommend if you are planning to travel at high speed for long periods most days.
I current use the 3M E.A.R classic with an SNR of 28dB(A) I ride the bike a couple of days a week for a few hours and mixture of roads and speeds so I find that this gives me a good balance of protection vs hearing the world around me.
So go for the well known brands with evidence of testing to BS-EN standards,
Try a range of products until you find one that works for you in terms of fit, comfort etc
Try different SNR protection levels until you find the one that matches your riding, the level of noise reduction you are comfortable with, and is comfortable.
Moulded ear plugs made to fit you are excellent and probably the best option overall but disposable ear plugs give very good levels of protection if used correctly
I could go on, and on and on, but I really recommend that you wear hearing protection unless you are just going for a short low speed bimble. Noise induced hearing loss is an absolute swine that serious affects peoples' quality of life.
Here endeth the lecture but if anyone has any questions or wants more detail let me know, otherwise I'll go back to my usual lurking mode
(no chance)
Hearing protection comes in different levels of protection. One of the biggest mistakes people make is thinking that more is better. In other words the bigger the number the more protection you have so it must be better. Wrong! It is very easy to over protect and that's when you can't hear anything and in the worse case it feels like sensory deprivation.
Most of the noise exposure for motorcyclist comes from wind noise hence there are lots of variables, time spent at speed, helmet type and design, fairings, screens and their position compared to rider size, etc etc.
There is a very good research paper by the association for European transport published in 2002 that does a good job of pulling all this together in relation to occupational exposure for police motorcyclists. In summary over 30mph it is likely that your exposure will be around 80 to 90 dB(A) and at high speed could be over 100dB(A). But unless you do this for many hours every day, like the police riders, it is very hard to guess your exposure.
The requirement for hearing protection in the UK (and Europe) at work is based on actions levels that you need to supply at 80dB(A) and mandate at 85dB(A) but this based on an 8 hour exposure. Things to bear in mind. These actions levels are based on the idea that someone is exposed to this levels 8hrs a day 5 days a week, any other exposure pattern needs to be calculated out.
The dB(A) thing means it is measured compared to the sensitivity of the human ear to various frequencies, Decibels (dB) are a logarithmic scale, therefore 3 dB is roughly a doubling in noise energy (eg a lot)So 83dB is double the noise energy of 80 dB, 86dB(A) is double the noise energy of 83dB(A) so there is hell of difference in exposure between 80dB(A) and a 100dB(A), but the human ear can only really start to tell things are nosier with a 5 dB difference, in other words we are rubbish at judging when noise levels are getting harmful.
So how by much do you need to reduce (attenuate) the noise? If we can reduce the exposure level at your ear to round 70dB(A) that would be about right and would still allow you hear a reasonable level of conversation/ traffic etc, if you reduce below 60dB(A) it feels odd!
So back to buying ear plugs You'll see two main pieces of of information on the box
1) SNR (single Number rating) this is the simplest way of assessing the amount of protection the ear plugs will give.
2) HML values (High, medium and low frequency) three figures.
There may also be a full octave band breakdown with lots of figures, Anorak required!
Focus on the SNR value, for most purposes this will do.
Let's take the example given above, the Howard leight Laser lite has an SNR of 35 dB(A), so if you if you were exposed to 100dB(A) the noise level at your ear would be 65dB(A), except we knock off 4 dB(A) of the SNR for what we call real world conditions (incorrect fitting by the user) so we would actually estimate a noise level at the ear of 69dB(A). So that is a fairly high level of protection and I would recommend if you are planning to travel at high speed for long periods most days.
I current use the 3M E.A.R classic with an SNR of 28dB(A) I ride the bike a couple of days a week for a few hours and mixture of roads and speeds so I find that this gives me a good balance of protection vs hearing the world around me.
So go for the well known brands with evidence of testing to BS-EN standards,
Try a range of products until you find one that works for you in terms of fit, comfort etc
Try different SNR protection levels until you find the one that matches your riding, the level of noise reduction you are comfortable with, and is comfortable.
Moulded ear plugs made to fit you are excellent and probably the best option overall but disposable ear plugs give very good levels of protection if used correctly
I could go on, and on and on, but I really recommend that you wear hearing protection unless you are just going for a short low speed bimble. Noise induced hearing loss is an absolute swine that serious affects peoples' quality of life.
Here endeth the lecture but if anyone has any questions or wants more detail let me know, otherwise I'll go back to my usual lurking mode
Edited by Mr Dendrite on Sunday 15th April 00:28
Edited by Mr Dendrite on Sunday 15th April 00:29
I swear by 3M E.A.R. (the cylindrical type; not tapered).
Night-and-day compared to most of the tapered ones I'd been using before. I'd always bought the tapered ones thinking the taper was a good thing for a better fit, but actually having more material in there in the first place seems to do a better job of deadening sound. You have to roll them between your fingers but they expand nicely and fit well.
Night-and-day compared to most of the tapered ones I'd been using before. I'd always bought the tapered ones thinking the taper was a good thing for a better fit, but actually having more material in there in the first place seems to do a better job of deadening sound. You have to roll them between your fingers but they expand nicely and fit well.
I use a set of Flare Audio plugs for my commuting these days, very very comfy used them for 5 hours straight in the past and forgot they were there and they completely remove that lovely post 3.5 hour motorway ring that I used to get before I started wearing them.
Used to get the standard foam jobs in the club's I worked in and never found them comfortable so switched to the soft wax ones but didn't think they'd have the longevity on the bike so gave the Flares a shot, relatively expensive initial outlay but worth it in my opinion.
Used to get the standard foam jobs in the club's I worked in and never found them comfortable so switched to the soft wax ones but didn't think they'd have the longevity on the bike so gave the Flares a shot, relatively expensive initial outlay but worth it in my opinion.
Mr Dendrite said:
I'll try and keep this simple and leave my Anorak off
(no chance)
Hearing protection comes in different levels of protection. One of the biggest mistakes people make is thinking that more is better. In other words the bigger the number the more protection you have so it must be better. Wrong! It is very easy to over protect and that's when you can't hear anything and in the worse case it feels like sensory deprivation.
Most of the noise exposure for motorcyclist comes from wind noise hence there are lots of variables, time spent at speed, helmet type and design, fairings, screens and their position compared to rider size, etc etc.
There is a very good research paper by the association for European transport published in 2002 that does a good job of pulling all this together in relation to occupational exposure for police motorcyclists. In summary over 30mph it is likely that your exposure will be around 80 to 90 dB(A) and at high speed could be over 100dB(A). But unless you do this for many hours every day, like the police riders, it is very hard to guess your exposure.
The requirement for hearing protection in the UK (and Europe) at work is based on actions levels that you need to supply at 80dB(A) and mandate at 85dB(A) but this based on an 8 hour exposure. Things to bear in mind. These actions levels are based on the idea that someone is exposed to this levels 8hrs a day 5 days a week, any other exposure pattern needs to be calculated out.
The dB(A) thing means it is measured compared to the sensitivity of the human ear to various frequencies, Decibels (dB) are a logarithmic scale, therefore 3 dB is roughly a doubling in noise energy (eg a lot)So 83dB is double the noise energy of 80 dB, 86dB(A) is double the noise energy of 83dB(A) so there is hell of difference in exposure between 80dB(A) and a 100dB(A), but the human ear can only really start to tell things are nosier with a 5 dB difference, in other words we are rubbish at judging when noise levels are getting harmful.
So how by much do you need to reduce (attenuate) the noise? If we can reduce the exposure level at your ear to round 70dB(A) that would be about right and would still allow you hear a reasonable level of conversation/ traffic etc, if you reduce below 60dB(A) it feels odd!
So back to buying ear plugs You'll see two main pieces of of information on the box
1) SNR (single Number rating) this is the simplest way of assessing the amount of protection the ear plugs will give.
2) HML values (High, medium and low frequency) three figures.
There may also be a full octave band breakdown with lots of figures, Anorak required!
Focus on the SNR value, for most purposes this will do.
Let's take the example given above, the Howard leight Laser lite has an SNR of 35 dB(A), so if you if you were exposed to 100dB(A) the noise level at your ear would be 65dB(A), except we knock off 4 dB(A) of the SNR for what we call real world conditions (incorrect fitting by the user) so we would actually estimate a noise level at the ear of 69dB(A). So that is a fairly high level of protection and I would recommend if you are planning to travel at high speed for long periods most days.
I current use the 3M E.A.R classic with an SNR of 28dB(A) I ride the bike a couple of days a week for a few hours and mixture of roads and speeds so I find that this gives me a good balance of protection vs hearing the world around me.
So go for the well known brands with evidence of testing to BS-EN standards,
Try a range of products until you find one that works for you in terms of fit, comfort etc
Try different SNR protection levels until you find the one that matches your riding, the level of noise reduction you are comfortable with, and is comfortable.
Moulded ear plugs made to fit you are excellent and probably the best option overall but disposable ear plugs give very good levels of protection if used correctly
I could go on, and on and on, but I really recommend that you wear hearing protection unless you are just going for a short low speed bimble. Noise induced hearing loss is an absolute swine that serious affects peoples' quality of life.
Here endeth the lecture but if anyone has any questions or wants more detail let me know, otherwise I'll go back to my usual lurking mode
Interesting stuff, thanks.(no chance)
Hearing protection comes in different levels of protection. One of the biggest mistakes people make is thinking that more is better. In other words the bigger the number the more protection you have so it must be better. Wrong! It is very easy to over protect and that's when you can't hear anything and in the worse case it feels like sensory deprivation.
Most of the noise exposure for motorcyclist comes from wind noise hence there are lots of variables, time spent at speed, helmet type and design, fairings, screens and their position compared to rider size, etc etc.
There is a very good research paper by the association for European transport published in 2002 that does a good job of pulling all this together in relation to occupational exposure for police motorcyclists. In summary over 30mph it is likely that your exposure will be around 80 to 90 dB(A) and at high speed could be over 100dB(A). But unless you do this for many hours every day, like the police riders, it is very hard to guess your exposure.
The requirement for hearing protection in the UK (and Europe) at work is based on actions levels that you need to supply at 80dB(A) and mandate at 85dB(A) but this based on an 8 hour exposure. Things to bear in mind. These actions levels are based on the idea that someone is exposed to this levels 8hrs a day 5 days a week, any other exposure pattern needs to be calculated out.
The dB(A) thing means it is measured compared to the sensitivity of the human ear to various frequencies, Decibels (dB) are a logarithmic scale, therefore 3 dB is roughly a doubling in noise energy (eg a lot)So 83dB is double the noise energy of 80 dB, 86dB(A) is double the noise energy of 83dB(A) so there is hell of difference in exposure between 80dB(A) and a 100dB(A), but the human ear can only really start to tell things are nosier with a 5 dB difference, in other words we are rubbish at judging when noise levels are getting harmful.
So how by much do you need to reduce (attenuate) the noise? If we can reduce the exposure level at your ear to round 70dB(A) that would be about right and would still allow you hear a reasonable level of conversation/ traffic etc, if you reduce below 60dB(A) it feels odd!
So back to buying ear plugs You'll see two main pieces of of information on the box
1) SNR (single Number rating) this is the simplest way of assessing the amount of protection the ear plugs will give.
2) HML values (High, medium and low frequency) three figures.
There may also be a full octave band breakdown with lots of figures, Anorak required!
Focus on the SNR value, for most purposes this will do.
Let's take the example given above, the Howard leight Laser lite has an SNR of 35 dB(A), so if you if you were exposed to 100dB(A) the noise level at your ear would be 65dB(A), except we knock off 4 dB(A) of the SNR for what we call real world conditions (incorrect fitting by the user) so we would actually estimate a noise level at the ear of 69dB(A). So that is a fairly high level of protection and I would recommend if you are planning to travel at high speed for long periods most days.
I current use the 3M E.A.R classic with an SNR of 28dB(A) I ride the bike a couple of days a week for a few hours and mixture of roads and speeds so I find that this gives me a good balance of protection vs hearing the world around me.
So go for the well known brands with evidence of testing to BS-EN standards,
Try a range of products until you find one that works for you in terms of fit, comfort etc
Try different SNR protection levels until you find the one that matches your riding, the level of noise reduction you are comfortable with, and is comfortable.
Moulded ear plugs made to fit you are excellent and probably the best option overall but disposable ear plugs give very good levels of protection if used correctly
I could go on, and on and on, but I really recommend that you wear hearing protection unless you are just going for a short low speed bimble. Noise induced hearing loss is an absolute swine that serious affects peoples' quality of life.
Here endeth the lecture but if anyone has any questions or wants more detail let me know, otherwise I'll go back to my usual lurking mode
Edited by Mr Dendrite on Sunday 15th April 00:28
Edited by Mr Dendrite on Sunday 15th April 00:29
If I was going on a decent ride I’d wear ear plugs. What I don’t know is what I consider a decent ride. My commute is an hour each way, but probably only 2 sections where I’d reach 80kph for maybe 10 mins or so at a time. I can’t decide whether that’s fine or going to be doing me harm, any advice? My gut feeling is it’s fine, but if it’s not, doing that every day could be bad over time. My dad suffers from tinnitus and the thought of that scares me.
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