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Earplugs or Headphones or None

4439 Views 60 Replies 35 Participants Last post by  XPyrion
Hello my ZX6R fellows, I've been riding for roughly 3 years now. During my first year of riding, I wanted to put all of my focus on the road and surroundings just to be on the safe side. As I gained more & more experience and understanding of the bike, I thought I try wearing headphones (apple headphone) because it can get preeeetty boring on long rides, even short ones. Though I wear them, my focus on the road & surroundings is still 100%, couldn't HEAR much because the music was playing. I never try earplugs while riding, saw a couple of videos on YouTube about it, got mix reviews, so I'm a little skeptical. Sometimes I ride with no headphones (never try earplugs) and the wind noise was kinda irritating to my ears.

What do you guys suggest & why.

Opinions, feedbacks or comments is much appreciated.



EARPLUGS?

HEADPHONES?

NONE?
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I use one headphone with a mic on the wire in case I get a call, also due to only having one in, I can hear enough of my bike and my surroundings.
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If i listen to music I use the sena bluetooth i put in my helmet but i usually just use it for the intercom when riding with friends
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.....
I wear foam ear plugs, every ride. I could see using head phones built into the helmet.... but I'd still wear the ear plugs underneath. Any time you are riding at speed, your ears are taking a pounding. Adding ear buds to crank up the noise higher so you can hear somehting you want just adds to the pounding your ears are taking. After a career in the USN, and listening to loud rock and roll since I was 12..... anything I can do to limit further damage to my hearing is a plus.

You really don't appreciate the what you have 'til it's gone --

Best solution in my humble opinion would be wireless noise cancelling earbuds. I don't think such a thing exists. I have a pair of cheap noise cancelling head phones I bought a number of years ago that I use on airplanes to quiet down the background noise.

The difference in how low you can set the volume on what you want to listen to is substantial; and you can still hear enough of what is going on around you to be safe (flight deck instructions, etc.).

Ear buds have been a PITA for me, trying to negotiate the cords as I ge tthe helmet on my head.... any sort of external sound system, I'd rather have that in the pockets in the foam bulit into my helmet.
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I wear foam ear plugs, every ride. I could see using head phones built into the helmet.... but I'd still wear the ear plugs underneath. Any time you are riding at speed, your ears are taking a pounding. Adding ear buds to crank up the noise higher so you can hear somehting you want just adds to the pounding your ears are taking. After a career in the USN, and listening to loud rock and roll since I was 12..... anything I can do to limit further damage to my hearing is a plus.

You really don't appreciate the what you have 'til it's gone --

Best solution in my humble opinion would be wireless noise cancelling earbuds. I don't think such a thing exists. I have a pair of cheap noise cancelling head phones I bought a number of years ago that I use on airplanes to quiet down the background noise.

The difference in how low you can set the volume on what you want to listen to is substantial; and you can still hear enough of what is going on around you to be safe (flight deck instructions, etc.).

Ear buds have been a PITA for me, trying to negotiate the cords as I ge tthe helmet on my head.... any sort of external sound system, I'd rather have that in the pockets in the foam bulit into my helmet.
Totally agreed with you about the trouble of playing around with the cords while putting on your helmet, it's a hassle, but if I'm going to be on a long ride 100 KMs+, then I will definitely be listening to music. Whether it be headphones or the built-in ones that you mentioned. Anyway, I thought about ordering some foam ear plugs this year when winter is over where I live.
I like the ear buds so I can listen to music. I've found the perfect volume to be able to hear music clearly as well as the bike. Sometimes no music at all, but I still have them in. I can actually HEAR the bike a lot better with them in as it helps to block out the wind and other surrounding noises. The wires aren't a hassle as I just run them to my phone on my inside jacket pocket. I did just get a RAM stem mount, so I'm looking at a few wireless ear buds right now. That's just what works for me, but everyone is different.
Apparently, not too many riders that I talked to agree with wearing ear plugs for a number of reasons; it's gay, they can't hear the traffic around them, it's cumbersome, girly, etc...

I valued my hearing and fuck tinnitus.
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Here is my solution for earplugs integrated as headphones!

Comply? Foam Tips - Replacement Earphone Tips


Unless you got large ear canals, size M fits good.

Cuts out wind and heavy exhaust noise but you can still hear your surroundings, even with music on.
Since it's earbuds there is no need to crank up the volume.

Reusable by just rinsing under warm water, rubbing between fingers. Depending on how bad i let it get with the soilage, i can wash them up to 3times. Helps if you clean your ears with qtips every few days.

For me it's well worth the hassle with all the put earplugs in, pull helmet on carefully, maybe stuff fingers inside helmet to readjust earplug, tuck away wires and connect to music player.
When taking off helmet, earplugs just need a tug on the chord to come out. Leaving them in and trying to take the helmet off is gonna be painful.

I've been using those for 4yrs now.
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Apparently, not too many riders that I talked to agree with wearing ear plugs for a number of reasons; it's gay, they can't hear the traffic around them, it's cumbersome, girly, etc...

I valued my hearing and fuck tinnitus.
Gay? Ah the grand ole bigotry disguised as slang. And what traffic are you trying to hear exactly? I can still hear a horn and screeching tires, I can tell you that.
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I usually don't have anything so I would fall into the none category but sometimes if I am in the mood for music I have noise isolating earbuds that I will use that I can listen to music without the volume turned up to ridiculous levels. I thought I would use them a lot more but I kinda like just reflecting on myself and having some peaceful time on the bike without any music or anything.
The ear plug thing is pretty alien to me, but it seems like common sense that if your exhaust is so loud that you require ear plugs to ride it comfortably, that's a problem.
The ear plug thing is pretty alien to me, but it seems like common sense that if your exhaust is so loud that you require ear plugs to ride it comfortably, that's a problem.
It's actually the wind noise I'm knocking down... I run an OEM exhaust. The constant buffeting on your helmet produces a lot of rattling and popping noise, right at the neck line. Nearly focused directly on your ear.

It's a lot like having a vacuum cleaner running all the time. You can tune it out and concentrate on other things, but it's still there.

The foam earplugs I run, I get at work for free. They knock down the background noise but do not make it difficult at all to pick out important things I need to hear. A car encroaching on me, either by engine noise, or wind noise on the vehicle, tire noise on the road -- I can hear all of that with the foam plugs in.
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I ride with one earbud so I have music and can hear everything else. And its illegal to ride with two.
It's actually the wind noise I'm knocking down... I run an OEM exhaust. The constant buffeting on your helmet produces a lot of rattling and popping noise, right at the neck line. Nearly focused directly on your ear.

It's a lot like having a vacuum cleaner running all the time. You can tune it out and concentrate on other things, but it's still there.

The foam earplugs I run, I get at work for free. They knock down the background noise but do not make it difficult at all to pick out important things I need to hear. A car encroaching on me, either by engine noise, or wind noise on the vehicle, tire noise on the road -- I can hear all of that with the foam plugs in.
I never thought of that, I dunno I've had an AGV helmet that was loud, but wasn't uncomfortable, I guess it was sort of like having the window of my car down. My icon was actually extreme I could see how it could get annoying tho.
Gay? Ah the grand ole bigotry disguised as slang. And what traffic are you trying to hear exactly? I can still hear a horn and screeching tires, I can tell you that.
it's not me, READ MY POST AGAIN, I was refering to the people I talked to out there on the streets.
I never thought of that, I dunno I've had an AGV helmet that was loud, but wasn't uncomfortable, I guess it was sort of like having the window of my car down. My icon was actually extreme I could see how it could get annoying tho.
Ear fatigue and hearing loss is occurring anytime you have sustained noise above a certain value. Doesn't have to be as loud as a rock concert to do that, simply loud enough that your ear never gets a break.

Humans' ears were not designed with continuous noise as part of the plan. We've brought all of that, on ourselves.

A good baseline for when you have an appropriate ambient noise level (how quiet things SHOULD be) is whether you can hear the breeze rustling the leaves in the trees. That's pretty close to a 'natural' level of noise....
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EARPLUGS... always, ..unless I'm on a dragon run where sometimes I don't cuss I want to hear the fast guys behind me.:hmmm:
Horns beeping for me to get out of there way:sigh:
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