I'm not expecting anything new in this thread, so I decided to just quote a post from the first page...
Originally Posted by
mconlonx
I wear earplugs whenever I am out on my motorcycle. At speeds above 35mph or so, steady wind noise in and around a helmet gets deafening... for real, deafening, as in demonstrable permanent hearing loss.
On bikes, it's not so bad. I think if my average speed ever gets up to 20mph or so, it might push me to wear earplugs, but for my commute, with no huge downhills, no earplugs works for me.
I mentioned it in another thread, but a rider doesn't need to be traveling at 20 mph to get that amount of wind noise. Going 10 mph into a 10 mph headwind gives you an airspeed of 20 mph; same with all the gusts & crosswinds. The quietest riding is when you get a tailwind.
I agree that all sensory input one can get while mixing it up with traffic is important, so I'm hesitant to use earplugs while riding a bicycle.
Although earplugs do come in varying degrees of sound reduction--look for a lower number for bicycling perhaps. For motorcycling, I find the highest number I can find.
I decided to try some ER20 earplugs (no music, just plugs) that I got at work, and I was really surprised. The ride itself was a lot more peaceful, and I don't remember being surprised by anything that I hadn't already seen in my mirror or by looking around.
If I change lanes, it's usually behind a cluster of vehicles, and I'm trying to not swerve in front of any stragglers that are twenty or thirty yards back. I will
never be able to hear them, however, because the cluster is making a lot of noise already, masking anything that's behind me.
So, I figured that since my ears are pretty useless in traffic anyway, it's not a problem if I try to keep the noise down.
Even unimpeded, I don't think that we can trust our ears enough, especially since our lives depend on not getting hit by anything. We should
always do a visual check. With OR without silent earplugs or music earphones, ride like you're deaf.
(the funny thing is, the first time I rode with earplugs was the first in a long time that people wanted to talk to me on the street... well, they were asking for directions, but I thought it was ironically funny
)