Do you wear ear plugs? Why or why not?

[OSU55]

I ride Hondas, with a good full face helmet, so no need for ear plugs.  But, if using some noisy equipment, then use them, such as last month with electric hammer chisel on cement, while in Puerto Rico on Methodist Church Mission trip, rebuilding houses, then yes. The ear plugs also kept the dust out.  LOL

Have you measured the sound level inside your helmet at your usual ride speeds? Do that and look up OSHA noise/time allotments (at least something good from OSHA). Once its gone, its gone, can't get it back.

[vince]

Looks like an old topic, but I just started looking at the forum.
Looks like everyone uses them. I don't. I have them with me but mostly forget to put them in.
I only started to even use them the last few years.
I have been riding for over 50 years. They didn't even have them in the beginning.
I raced for more than 25 years and never used them.
Do I have hearing loss. Yes about 50%. They tell me it is hard to hear women voices. Ok by me.
As you get older you lose some of your hearing anyway. So I don't know if I really lost much anyway. Most of my friends that don't ride have hearing aids and I don't. I think I can still hear better than they can.
When I ride now. If I am going to be on the bike for more than say half an hour I will put them in.
What I would really like to see is better helmets. That is where most of the wind noise is coming from.
I just hate putting them in and taking them out. I know it is a bad excuse.

[DirtFlier]

I don't think there is a clear relationship between not wearing them and soon needing hearing aids since everyone is different but there isn't a downside to wearing ear plugs so why not?

[HawkGTRider]

I do theatrical backstage work. Like many of us, I have a degree of hearing loss, and I'm not happy about it. If I can't hear or understand instructions in my work, I'm doomed to have to redo things or ask again for instructions (or both). If I'm running a spotlight, I HAVE to be able to hear the directions through a headset from the lighting director. If I can't understand the instructions, I'll likely be replaced. That's lost income on top of being embarrassed.


I've come to consider earplugs to be just one more part of my riding gear. I don't ride 20 minutes without a helmet. I feel the same about the plugs.

[Doug Just Doug]

I never did while growing up on dirt bikes, or when I began riding on the street when I was old enough, but ever since the first time I tried ear plugs in 1990 I haven't taken a single ride without them.  I don't think I could stand it if I tried to go without.