Custom Earplugs

I don't know about you, but the foam earplugs you can buy in the grocery store or pharmacy just don't get the job done for me. Must be the shape or size of my ear canal, but they only seem to knock down about 20% of the sound at best.

As BDA116 will attest, my RC with the carbon Sato cans is rather throaty. Actually it's just plain loud. Awesome, but loud. And my helmet is extremely well vented so there's lots of wind noise. After having my ears ringing for a day or so after a couple of trackdays in February, I decided to spend a few bucks to get some custom plugs made.

I made an appointment at a hearing aid place that does these custom silicone earplugs. It was kind of a weird process. They jam a couple of spongy foam things deep into your ear canal, and then they mix up some liquid goo and fill your ears with it until it feels like you're underwater and you can't hear much of anything. In less than two minutes, the goo sets up, and they pull the now hardened goo along with the foam inserts out of your ears. This forms the mold that they send off to the lab to have your plugs made from.

A week or so later I got them back, tried them on and they seemed to fit pretty well. I had a chance to try them out at the trackday last Saturday, and I must say I was very pleased! They really cut the sound a ton. I could still hear of course, but it was very comfortable all day, and no ringing afterward.

They cost about $70.00 but last for years and should really help protect my hearing, which is of course priceless.

I had to get them in red and black to match the bike...

[SomeStrangeGuy]

damn I wish I would have known, wouldda sold you mine for half that.

[SPY]

EWWWWWWWWW Gross!

Originally Posted by SomeStrangeGuy

damn I wish I would have known, wouldda sold you mine for half that.

Those look good, bwhip! I had a custom set done at a motorcycle show. They were crap. They were the large ones that fill up your ear when in place. Going to a hearing aid place or an audiologist is the way to get good ones. The Howard Leight foam ones work well for me, but ones like you have would probably block more noise.

[Zeeman]

Yup, I had the same one smade as HGToo - and tey cost me %50 and they sucked. There are some foam ones I get for about $3 a pair that are awesome, they block just about everything. Would like to try the type oyu have though bqhip..

Z...

I had the ones at the bike show made, and so far they are good. I haven't ridden w/ them yet, but I have studdied w/ them in.

HD

Originally Posted by Heavy-Dee

I had the ones at the bike show made, and so far they are good. I haven't ridden w/ them yet, but I have studdied w/ them in.

HD

With or without the helmet?

I will typically wear plugs on long rides. It helps for that prolonged buffetting from wind noise. I tried them at the track and actually liked it better without them. I guess I can hear what I'm doing better without them on the track, kind of odd I guess.

[BDA116]

Yeah, all I could hear on track without plugs were bwhip's exhaust and my intake. The intake honk is LOUD on my bike (but not as loud as that RC51).
It reminded me to put my plugs in.

I have some "show specials" and they work well for me - I wear them every time I ride. No surprise that they're flourescent orange.

The foam ones used to drive me crazy - if they weren't falling out and transmitting more noise from contacting the helmet liner, they were trying to expand my ear canal and giving me a headache.

I recommend getting some customs drom the standpoint of hearing damage. they're way more effective than the foam ones. Except the red and black ones are for posers.

Originally Posted by CBRVFR

...Except the red and black ones are for posers.

I was actually tempted to use them last night for my wife's snoring.

Check with the audiologist that does the work, there are usually quite a few different styles out there for different applications. From musician plugs to industrial. The pair I had made about 10 years ago were awesome they cut out everything above 80 decibles but you could still hear someone talking next to you (standing on the floor of a Rolling Stones concert having a little above normal volume conversation with a buddy who had the same set was cool) They were incredible on the bike all the wind noise was cut WAY down but I could still hear traffic coming up on me.

Cheers,

Andrew

Originally Posted by EDDIE110171

With or without the helmet?

Fo schizzle