Should you wear earplugs on a motorcycle?

My fellow riders and I often have discussions about wearing earplugs. Some of them say earplugs are not important, whiles I think it absolutely is. So I did some research to convince them, and these are my results;

Wearing earplugs on a motorcycle is an absolute must. The sound of the wind can start to damage your hearing within 15 minutes. There are earplugs for sale, which are specially made for riding a motorcycle.

I’ll tell you more about protecting your hearing in this article. Do you want a shortcut to the answer? My answer is: Always wear hearing protection when you leave town. The best earplugs for motorcycle riders are most definitely the Alpine Motosafe Earplugs (check price on Amazon).

This is why you should wear earplugs on a motorcycle

We only receive our hearing once and we should cherish it. I often read discussions, where people argue about earplugs. Some say it improves driver safety, whiles others say it’s dangerous to ride a bike which earplugs in your ears. Some people pretend that you can no longer hear what is going on around you whiles wearing earplugs. However, this is not entirely true, provided you use the correct hearing protection.

Research shows that people should not have to deal with sounds above 85 decibels when we look at an eight-hour working day. That is also the reason that workers in the construction and production wear earplugs daily.

When your ears are exposed to 100 decibels, you’ll start damaging your ears after 15 minutes. Research from the University of Alabama shows that wind noise exceeds the sound of the engine from a speed of 25 miles an hour.

When driving 75 miles an hour, the wind noise reaches the limit of 100 decibels. Riding a motorway for 15 minutes can, therefore, cause hearing damage within 15 minutes. All of us drive longer than 15 minutes regularly.

When does sound start causing hearing loss?

There are different types of activities that can damage your ears. Riding a bike is one of them, but you can also think of hunting, going to a concert or playing in a band.

Sounds of less than 75 decibels, even for a longer period of time, won’t cause hearing loss. Long repeated sounds of 85 decibels and above can cause hearing loss though. Here are some examples to give you an idea of how loud that is.

45 dB – The humming of a refrigerator
60 dB – A typical conversation
85 dB – The sound of heavy traffic in the city
95 dB – Typical motorcycle engine sound
100 dB – Wind sound on a motorcycle at 75 miles an hour
105 dB – An MP3 player on maximum volume
120 dB – Sirens
150 dB – A gunshot or fireworks

To understand how sounds can damage your hearing, you have to understand how the ear works. Hearing is transforming sound waves in the air, to electrical signals in the brain.

The short version to this is that we have tiny little hairs inside our ears. These hairs ride the wave of a sound. As the hair cells move up and down, microscopic hair-like projections (know as stereocilia), bump against an overlying structure and bend. The bending causes pore-like channels, which are at the tips of the hair-like projections, to open up. When they open up, chemicals speed into the cell, creating an electrical signal. The signal gets send back to the brain, which translates it to the sounds we know.

Mose hearing loss is caused by damage and death of the hair cells. Humans are not able to grow new hair cells. Once they are damaged, they stay damaged forever.

Why earplugs increase your safety

Our hearing was not made to process sounds of 100 decibels. That is why you don’t hear a whole lot when the wind strikes your helmet.

Good motorcycle earplugs do not block important sounds, they filter out the wind noise. You still hear car horns or sirens from a raging ambulance. As a result, the chances that you will hear that ambulance arrive are greater because it is not surpassed by 100 decibels of wind noise.

This is why GOOD earplugs don’t decrease but actually increase rider safety. Just make sure you buy the right pair of earplugs, and don’t go for the cheap foam.

Furthermore, earplugs ensure that you are less tired on the bike. When I started using hearing protection, I immediately noticed the difference, especially on longer journeys. When you are tired, the risk of accidents is increased. In that sense too, hearing protection is safety-enhancing on your bike.

There are 4 types of earplugs

There are four types of earplugs, each having their own advantages. Simply said there is foam plugs, wax plugs, special motorcycle earplugs, and custom earplugs.

Foam earplugs on a motorcycle

Foam earplugs are extremely cheap and they are used in a variety of fields. They usually cost something between 10 and 30 cents each and you see construction and production workers wear them all the time.

Wearing foam earplugs on a motorcycle isn’t the best idea. They may be ok for passengers, but the driver shouldn’t be wearing them.

They block the noise pretty well, that’s not the problem. The problem is that they block all sounds. So also the sound of a honking car or a speeding ambulance. It’s like riding your bike blindfolded. Just don’t do it!

Wax earplugs on your bike

So the second kind of earplugs is the wax earplugs. Are they any better?

The wax earplugs do an excellent job at blocking noises, but they have the same problem as the foam earplugs. They block out all the sounds, which doesn’t improve safety.

Another disadvantage of wax earplugs is hygiene. Putting them in and taking them out with your dirty hands isn’t ideal, since dirt sticks to them. So isn’t an option for me.

Special motorcycle earplugs

When you search for earplugs, you’ll find out that there are special motorcycle earplugs on the market. Are they the solution?

Well yes, for me they are. The earplugs are open in the middle and are fitted with a filter. In theory, this filters out wind noise but lets surrounding sounds go through. So you’ll be able to hear that car honking, but you won’t get tired or the windblast against your helmet.

In my opinion, this is the best affordable option. They usually come with a keychain like in my picture, and cost around 10 to 30 dollars. This is helpfull, since you’ll always have your earplugs around. I’ll tell you which earplugs I use myself at the bottom of this article.

Custom made earplugs

Last but not least, there is a custom made earplugs on the market. You basically go to a shop where they tailor-fit them for you. They will put some kind of wax in your ears to make a mold, and then make the earplug itself.

Custom made earplugs can be a good option, especially when you ride very often or when standard earplugs tend to irritate your ears.

However, there are loads of different types of custom earplugs. Some are completely closing the ear (for swimming for example), whiles others have a filter. Make sure you get the one with a motorcycle filter, and you are good to go!

Keep in mind that airpods are not earplugs! They are ment to be used to listen to music, but they will not block out windnoise.

How to keep your earplugs clean

Earplugs tend to get dirty. Especially when you use them on a motorcycle. You sweat, your hands are full of grease and you take them in and out all the time.

So when you use non-disposable earplugs (like I suggested), you want to clean them every once in a while. Cleaning them doesn’t have to be hard and can be done in a matter of minutes. This is how you do it:

Get a bowl and fill it with hot water and some dish soap.
Put your earplugs in the water and let them be for a couple of minutes.
Wash your hands and then wipe off any dirt or grease from your earplugs.
Rinse the earplugs with fresh water, taking off any soap.
Put the earplugs on a clean towel and let them dry.
When needed, you can disinfect the earplugs with disinfection gel or pure alcohol.

What is the best hearing protection for driving a motorcycle?

There are loads of hearing protection around. As I said, don’t buy the cheap foam earplugs! They will block out all sounds and you won’t be able to hear traffic around. It also blocks your engine sound, which is killing all the fun.

Check the earplug comparisons on this page. I personally use the Alpin earplugs, which you will find on my resources page. These are ideal for me. Pay attention at purchase, they have two different variants. One is for the sportier or circuit rider, the other for the tour rider. I recommend you get the combination of both. You can wear the tour earplugs whiles riding in the city and use the sport earplugs whiles driving on faster roads.