Careful About your Hearing
And load noises include the wind that all of us create when we ride a motorcycle.It's irreversible, but avoidable. The old assumption that a decent crash helmet would do the job doesn't stand up to any serious examination. We need to wear earplugs; the anecdotal and scientific evidence is absolute conclusive.
The question is, which ones? I must have tried more than 30 different styles over the years, including some quite expensive made-to-measure ear plugs. The worst have been uncomfortable or ineffective or both. Most have been okay but unreliable – all too often they dislodge themselves mid-journey, or pick up dirt too easily, or I lose them while I'm fumbling about in a petrol station or police stop.
But I've finally found the right earplugs for me, and I've used them for most journeys over the last year or so. They're Matrix earplugs from Howard Leight, available from Amazon for a few Dollar for 20 pair.
They're thin, light and simple. They have a smooth outer skin and use a patented no-roll design, although they still need inserting with care. They don't have a particularly good protection rating, but they score highly for me on three points: they're easy to use; they're so comfortable that you don't know they're there; and they do a good job of taking the edge off the wind noise without stopping me hearing what's going on in the outside world, and they don't give that worrying blocked-up feeling.
They've not made me any less clumsy, but if I lose them they cost peanuts, so I simply bung in another one.
I'm delighted that I've found the right plugs for me. I'd encourage everyone to keep experimenting until you find your perfect pair. All that said, there's still room for it to go wrong: ears keep changing, much more so than most other parts of the body, and what fits me now won't necessarily fit me forever.Tag: Earplugs Hearing Health Danger Wind-Noise Helmets
