Listening to music/ear plugs and other distractions

[faffi]

I lick on my earplug before I fit them and wash them after each use. Not elegant, but the spit makes them slide in much easier and make them comfier to wear. I also wear hearing protection when using drill, sander, hammer etc these days.

[gregjet]

I remember there were military ear plugs that mitigated the noise rather than just blocked it, that were made by Lockheed in the 70's and 80's that we used for band ( music) work.

I looked on line and there is one set I found that appear to be a similar idea. I included their blurb here because it makes some correct points:

 

"Pluggerz Road earplugs are designed for motorcycle riders, but they are also an excellent solution for race drivers and motorsports fans as well. Between the rumble of your engine as the intensity of the wind noise, even just a few hours on the road can do permanent noise-induced hearing damage. 

Serious riders know that a good motorcycle hearing protector must meet the following standards:
 

Enough noise blocking to cut down on wind noise -- it's not the bike, it's the wind noise that really threatens your ears.

Not too much hearing protection -- you need to be able to hear traffic around you.

A comfortable fit that won't fatigue your ears even on long rides.

A low-profile design that can be worn comfortably under a helmet.

Pluggerz Road earplugs meet all of these standards for an excellent motorcycle earplug, making Pluggerz Road a great choice for anyone who loves the open road.
Comes with a pocket-size storage pouch so you can stow your earplugs safely between uses.

 

Clean with warm water and soap to get the maximum lifetime out of your Pluggerz reusable earplugs."

 

What they do is reduce the effective aperture size to your ear ( with some mechanical HF traps), so when the pressure wave gets to your ears if has been substantially reduced. Hearing is ( like sight) logrithmic, so you can still hear what you need to and , still have sufficient SPL to allow aural discrimination. I have not used these so I cannot comment on their real world effectiveness. I have used Lockheeds, but not in a helmet.

 

There are also more modern electronic mitigaters from a mob called Doppler labs. Again I havent used them but the theory is sound. I couldn't wear them anyway as they won't fit in my ears.

 

I use a Sena intercom, so I don't used ear plugs, BUT the current firmware has noise cancelling which seems to work.

 

I have found that the choice of helmet and properly designed windscreen ( not one that just "looks" good) make a huge difference to the SPL( sound pressure level) at your ears. I recently change to an adventure helmet ( Arai XD4) and noticed a HUGE drop in noise , especially the damaging higher frequencies. Opening helmets are particularly bad as they tend to have much more aperture noises. My Nolan 102 was insanely loud even at town speeds.