Most motorcyclists put their motorcycle equipment together with the utmost care. Protective clothing such as good gloves, boots, sturdy trousers and a motorcycle jacket are often at the top of the list. A well-fitting helmet is essential. Nevertheless, the purchase of hearing protection is not always considered. Although you can enjoy your motorcycle ride even more with filter earplugs in your ears! In this blog, we will tell you about the advantages of driving with motorcyclist earplugs and which hearing protection is most suitable for you.
Noise on the motorcycle - the facts
Many motorcyclists think that they are already adequately protected against hearing damage by wearing a motorcycle helmet. Unfortunately, even with a helmet on, you risk getting a permanent ring in your ears. The higher the speed of your motorcycle, the more you suffer from wind noise under your helmet. Logically, this means that you can damage your hearing sooner at high speeds. In the overview below you see per speed how long you can drive without risking hearing damage.
Speed | Average volume of wind noise under the helmet | Maximum time without risk of hearing damage |
100 km/h | 94 dB | 15 minutes |
120 km/h | 98 dB | 7 minutes |
140 km/h | 102 dB | 3 minutes |
160 km/h | 106 dB | 90 seconds |
Causes and effects of hearing damage
The cochlea is located deep in the ear. Here you can see small nerve cells with thousands of small cilia hairs. Damage to these cilia can occur under the influence of excessive noise, such as wind noise. If the cilia hairs are damaged, they do not transmit any or incorrect information to the brain. The result may be that you hear worse, that you hear a ring or noise (tinnitus), that you become hypersensitive to certain sounds (hyperacousis), that sounds are distorted (distorted) or that you hear different sounds with both ears (diplacusis).
How do you prevent hearing damage on the motorcycle?
Hearing damage is not curable, but easy to prevent. By wearing good hearing protection, wind noise on the motorcycle cannot damage your hearing. With high-quality filter earplugs, the high harmful tones of wind noise are particularly attenuated, which means that the unique motorcycle experience remains.
Benefits of driving with hearing protection
In addition to the fact that motorcycle earplugs protect you from hearing damage, driving with hearing protection has a number of other advantages. First of all, you can concentrate better on the road because you are not distracted by the loud sound of the wind. Concentrating on the road also costs you a lot more energy when you are distracted by wind noise. With hearing protection your ride is not only safer but also a lot more relaxed. That way, you can get off your motorcycle relaxed and fit at the end of the day.
Filter earplugs versus Foam earplugs
When talking about earplugs, many people think of the standard foam earplugs first. These earplugs are more economical and of course dampen harmful noise, but nevertheless have a number of drawbacks with respect to motorcycle filter earplugs. First of all, foam earplugs completely close the ear canal, so that not only the wind noise is attenuated, but also your navigation system, the intercom and other road traffic. Alpine filter earplugs bring the wind noise back to a safe level with the acoustic filters. Furthermore, the comfort of carrying filter earplugs is considerably better than that of foam earplugs. Foam earplugs irritate ears after a few hours, filter earplugs can be worn for a whole day without any problems. The thermoplastic material offers a high degree of comfort and the earplugs adjust to the ear with your body heat. Alpine earplugs are also the only ones with a flexible filter and are therefore comfortable under your helmet. Finally, filter earplugs can be used more than 100 times. This is in contrast to foam earplugs, which are not reusable.
Alpine MotoSafe Tour, Race and Pro
You have a choice of universal Alpine motorcycle earplugs with average attenuation and strong attenuation. Do you mainly step on the motorcycle for a tour, vacation or a ride on the motorway? Then choose Alpine MotoSafe Tour with average attenuation (17 dB). Are you looking for more attenuation on the motorway, the circuit or when you drive with an open helmet? Alpine MotoSafe Race has heavier attenuation (20 dB). Are you an all-around motorcyclist? Then Alpine also has MotoSafe Pro. These are two complete sets of earplugs so that you can choose between average and strong attenuation. Alpine MotoSafe Pro is supplied with Alpine Clean cleaning spray.
Enjoy your hearing as long as possible
Hearing damage is unfortunately not noticed until it is too late. The use of hearing protection prevents hearing damage and also ensures that you have less earache or ring in your ears after a motorcycle ride. This way you can enjoy your hearing longer and get on your motorcycle without any worries!