Originally Posted by
BCRider
I ride my motorcycle on the highway with ear plugs all the time. By lowering the wind rushing sound it actually lets me hear the thrum of semi tires (or that jacked up F350 on dirt knobbies) beside me a lot more clearly than if I'm having to try to pick it out through the wind noise.
Using ear plugs can't be compared to stuffing noise making iPod plugs in at all. One lowers the noise level so your ears and brain can better filter for the stuff that you need to hear and the other generates blocking noise all its own in addition to letting the wind noise add to the cacophany.
Havng been a touring/session musician for alot of years I was told about ear plugs very early on. The person who told me to use them said, "They block out all the low/high frequencies and everything sounds like crap. If you sound good w/earplugs at rehearsal, you'll sound good on stage." He was right. I just kept using ear plugs onstage, too. They DO help one to focus in on what's important, soundwise. My wife, who is a musician, too has trouble hearing high frequency sounds with which I have no trouble. She never used earplugs. I doubt wind noise generated by cycling will affect one's hearing, but I'm going to start wearing those little sponge earplugs, anyway. I value my hearing.