Hearing Protection for Motorcycle Riding

Most motorcycle riders would never take a ride without their helmet, gloves, or other safety equipment. But many of these same riders never wear one important type of safety gear: hearing protection. Motorcycles can do some serious damage to your hearing if you don’t protect it.

Read on to learn more about why hearing protection is so important for all motorcycle riders. For all your motorcycle needs, come by Starved Rock Harley-Davidson®. We’re located in Ottawa, Illinois, and we proudly serve the Chicago, Illinois area. Our team of knowledgeable Harley-Davidson® experts will help you find everything you need.

Why Hearing Protection is Important

Many people like that their motorcycle is loud and there’s no denying that the growl of Harley-Davidson engines is one of their most distinctive features. But all that noise can actually damage your hearing. Many states limit the noise of motorcycles to about 90 decibels when measured at 50 feet away. It only takes sustained exposure to sounds of 80 decibels to cause permanent hearing damage, and when you’re on top of your bike, it could be significantly louder than 90 decibels.

Unfortunately, the damage doesn’t stop there. The air pressure of the wind you feel while riding can actually be worse than the noise from the engine. At about 40 miles per hour, you’ll experience about 90 decibels of noise. When you get up to 100 miles per hour, you’ll experience 110 decibels of noise. That’s enough to do serious damage to your ears. And if you’re counting on your helmet to protect you from this noise, you’re out of luck. Scientists have found that helmets don’t do much to reduce noise, and they sometimes vibrate at a frequency that could increase the harmful effects.

Choosing the Right Type of Hearing Protection

There are many types of hearing protection and not all of them are effective for use on a motorcycle. If you’re going to wear your hearing protection with your helmet—which you obviously should—you will need to find a type of hearing protection that will fit under your helmet. That eliminates all types of banded hearing protection, including over-the-ear designs such as earmuffs. You will also want to avoid any hearing protection that uses stocks. These can get pushed further into the ear canal by the helmet, potentially causing damage to the eardrum.

The best solution for most riders will be a set of good old-fashioned foam earplugs. They’re cheap, easy to use, and highly effective. Most foam earplugs will bring the noise level down within range of safe exposure.

How to Use Hearing Protection

Believe it or not, there’s actually a right way and a wrong way to use earplugs, and if you put them in incorrectly, you can reduce their effectiveness. The wrong way to use earplugs involves pushing them into your ear canal as far as they’ll go. This method will make the earplug more likely to fall out and generally less effective.

To correctly insert your earplugs, roll an earplug between the thumb and forefinger and pointer finger of your right hand until the diameter is compressed by about half. Then, reach over your head with your left hand and pull the top of your right ear upwards. This will help to open your ear canal to make insertion easier. Insert the earplug and then repeat the process on the opposite side. Let the earplugs expand to normal size before putting on your helmet.

Hopefully, this short guide gave you some helpful information on the importance of hearing protection. If you have more questions or you want to take a real Harley-Davidson for a test ride, stop by Starved Rock Harley-Davidson® in Ottawa, Illinois, near Chicago!