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The auditory canal (like the alimentary one - I'd love to be present at dinner time round Flting Duck's place) varies in width from person to person. Squishy, off-the-peg earplugs have to be made to fit all sizes of ear and that can cause a problem over time. When the plug expands it puts pressure on those very delicate tissues, especially in people with narrow auditory canals. And that poses a potential health risk. The constant pressure can result in mild damage to the tissue and persistent low grade infection. That, in turn, can damage hearing.

I looked into all this when I had a client come to see me a couple of years ago with persistent earaches. He was a biker and wore an Arai Astro-J helmet, same as mine and used disposable plugs. The Astro-J is a bloody noisy helmet. (Though the noise any helmet makes is not only dependent on its shape and design, but to some extent also on the shape of your head and how well it occupies the space inside the lid.)

Reinfection can occur if you reuse disposable plugs (as many people do) but in most cases the damage is just done by the pressure the plug places on the inside of the canal. And the damage may be so slight that you don't even notice it for a long time. If you wear disposable plugs, you do need to be aware of any tendency to wax in the ears - always a sign that some sort of infection is present.

Doing without the plugs isn't really a good choice. You can damage your ears even in the quietest helmet. All the research I've seen seems to indicate that if you ride for more than fifteen minutes at speeds in excess of 40mph without plugs of any kind, then you are starting to do slow, if imperceptible damage to your hearing whatever lid you are wearing. That's a statistical result so I'm a little suspicious of applying it to everyone, as it doesn't take account of individual differences. (I know some elderly bikers who've never worn plugs and who appear to have perfectly normal hearing for their age.) But, in principle, because the damage is slow and not obvious it's probably not worth taking the risk

I'd go for custom plugs myself. Over time, they don't work out anymore expensive than the throw-away variety and they don't seem to produce the same tendency to problems with infection or discomfort in the ears - so long as you keep them clean. Cleaning them is a bit of hassle for a lazy bastrd like me, but in reality, it's only a few seconds under the hot tap after a ride.

Hey wolf. I gather by your response above, you are an ear doctor or something like that. I have a couple of questions I hope you can answer.
Would custom mini-bud earphones work as well as custom ear-plugs? Other than the difference between silence and music? I sometimes wear minibuds while riding, but have the volume turned down enough so that I can still hear anything going wrong with my bike, or someone honking at me. The volume on my mp3 player is about 1/4 to 1/3 (max) while riding, and when not riding, like lying in bed going to sleep, is about half of that. Also, just to give you an idea of what my hearing is, I hardly ever have the surround sound theatre volume above 2 on the scale of 0-10. I also wear a half-helmet, not covering my ears, and have been doing so for at least 25 years and for the last 12 years have been wearing the silicone christmas tree-type earplugs.
I have a hearing test every year and so far, at 57, the audiologist tells me that my hearing is better than most 16 year-olds. I've had only about 3 ear aches that I can ever remember, and haven't had any infections except those caused in the auditory canal (more like raw irritation of the outer edges) by the stupid foamy type plugs. I played in rock bands for a number of years without any hearing protection (of course that was before all this hearing stuff was known). My graph hasn't changed in the last 12 years except by about 1 point in my left ear in the mid-high range. I do a lot of hunting and can pin-point many faint sounds that most of my friends can't even begin to hear.

OK, before I started all this rambling, my main question was going to be "Approximately how much do custom earplugs cost, and how much would custom plugs for my mp3 player cost?"

Hi Arctic HM

No, let's just get the credentials right. I'm not a doctor. I have a background in acupuncture and shiatsu. That means I've got some training in anatomy, physiology and pathology as well as in TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine). So I'm no expert on this. But when a client comes with a problem I've not encountered before I try to find out as much about it as I can - especially, in this case, as it is bike related.

Answer to your main question: in Canada, I've no idea how much these things cost. In the UK you can pay £50-70 for a pair of straight custom ear plugs. I don't know about the price of the earphone type. I've never owned any. So sorry, can't help on that one.

The only thing I'd say about your hearing is that you seem to have done very well. If I were in your position though, I personally wouldn't take that fact for granted as I grew older. My hearing was excellent until I hit 52 then it started to decline noticeably. These things are very individual. From everything that I can find out, the use of earphones does put stress on your auditory system over time. How that manifests in terms of symptoms in any individual case I wouldn't be able to say.

Thanks for your reply, wolf.

Motorcycle show season is coming... there are nearly always at least ONE if not TWO booths set up in the vendor area making custom earplugs on the spot.

These folks will also make earplugs with your audio earbuds molded in or will provide the electonics to fit your gadget.

For "plain" earplugs you'll likely pay $40-$60 US.

P

I paid about $75.00 a pair when I bought my custom plugs at the bike show. I bought a pair for riding and a pair for sleeping.

I think they are ususally closer to $100. when buying a single pair.

Thanks for your input on prices for your areas. It kind of gives me a general idea. It's just too bad we don't have any m/c shows in this neck of the woods. I would have to travel about 2000 miles to get to the nearest one.

You must really be looking forwad to Christmas. You've bypassed Hallowe'en and gone straight to Santa.

blues2cruise wrote:You must really be looking forwad to Christmas. You've bypassed Hallowe'en and gone straight to Santa. snip........

Only 54 shopping days left until tries to come down my non-existing chimney.

I've been riding for about 26 years and recently noticed that I couldn't hear my alarm clock with my left ear. I went to an audologist for a hearing test and found that I'd lost about 35db hearing in my left ear and a somewhat lessor amout in my right. The audiologist suggested it was probably noise induced hearing loss from wind noise.

I immediately purchased some custom earplugs to protect the hearing I have left. I wear a full face helmet and ride behind a Areoflow windshield on a BMW R1100GS which is a moderately quiet machine. I had been using disposable foam type plugs prior to my visit to the audiologist but they never worked as well as the custom ones.

Noise induced hearing loss is gradual and irreversable so hearing protection is highly recomended.

Lots of information available on the net, just type in noise induced hearing loss and motorcycles and you'll get several hits.