Riding with earbuds and music

[rprothero]

Has anyone had any negative experience riding a long trip playing music through earbuds? What are the cautions I should be aware of...

[ldeijkva]

Pressing against the eardrums, hearing damage. Although I do know that many people ride with these I cannot recommend it in any way.
Better of looking for helmet speakers, something like this: http://senabluetooth.com/wp-content/upl ... eakers.jpg

[R100CS]

There are earplugs with buildin speakers.
I don't even have my headset connected when I'm using my GPS, nice and quiet

[Jed]

I used to ride with music all the time, but over time the volumes required to listen to music over the road and wind noise means your ears will sustain damage from long-term exposure to high (combined) volumes. I no longer ride with music and always ride with the best ear plugs I can find. Like many people, I didn't take the threat of tinnitus seriously until it was too late. Protect your hearing.

good luck

[curtis]

Hey there neighbor, hope you are well. Thanks for the connect with CR. I will be visiting him soon.

I decided to go with Bluetooth, using my Android phone. It is fabulous. I opted for an off-brand helmet with built-in system, just to see if it suits me. I will be upgrading this riding season. If you want to borrow mine to check it out, you are welcome to.

The online reviews of the Bilt helmet and Bluetooth system indicate it works well aside from excessive noise as highway speeds, coupled with speakers of limited output resulting inability to hear over the wind. Personally I stay off the slab for the most part so it suits me fine. Volume control, skipping tracks, etc is very user friendly using buttons on the side of the helmet. Accepting, ending phone calls is also easy, though parties on the other line often say I sound as if in a tunnel. Navigaiton/GPS verbal commands through the speakers also work well.

[riceburner]

I ride with decent earplugs to kill the high frequency wind-noise damage, and use helmet-speakers for some tunes.

The thing is to have the music as 'background', rather than so loud it's damaging.

I did it on the cheap by dismantling a set of cheap headphones.

[Biff's R]

I use noise isolating earbuds. Etymotic ER-6i and they work as good as my earplugs at reducing noise when the music isn't playing. I try to keep the volume to a minimum and got a remote control that velcros to my handlebar. The only problem has been that I switched to an iPhone 5 and the remote connection doesn't work right now. I need to buy an adapter.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Hi, Riceburner,

So, you can hear the music well enough with helmet speakers and foam earplugs in? Could you hear "talk radio" well enough to understand?

And, Jeff, the 6i s are no longer made, The replacement version--forget the model number--works well and is a little heftier, but the bud mounting itself is longer and sticks out of your ear farther. It is much more likely to pull them out taking off your helmet.

And others above...you don't put the buds in to touch your eardrum. That would likely be exquisitely painful. They go in the ear canal and should not hurt, and do not require high volumes if you have a good seal.

and rprothero, cross country many times using Etymotics with what I think was a Joe F ( LOST) modification. I.e., I burned a hole through a pair of soft foam ear plugs--the orange or green jobs you can get at the pharmacy-- cut them to the proper length and mounted/superglued the foam to the hollow "post" that gives structure to the etymotic buds.

Wear them for hours and hours. If after a few days my ear canals are a little sore I put some rubbing alcohol, that I always carry with me, in each canal and if there is any external otitis, that cures it. I also use the alcohol to keep the buds clean. I usually put some lip balm on them to keep them more comfortable and more supple. But they last forever with minimal care.

Wind noise is probably the most damaging sound you can listen to

[riceburner]

Hi, Riceburner,

So, you can hear the music well enough with helmet speakers and foam earplugs in? Could you hear "talk radio" well enough to understand?

Yes - tried that once but it was too distracting, never again. tunes that I'm very, VERY familiar with are my choice - something to occupy the easily distracted part of my consciousness so that it doesn't wander off and think about other things that might distract from the riding.

I've also used a Scala G4 comms set with earplugs in and while the earplugs will cut out the high frequency wind noise, voice frequencies can come through ok. ( http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scala-G4-POWERS ... DQT4SEWZSR )

I currently use these earplugs : http://www.protecdirect.co.uk/Protec/Pe ... /p/3301105 . Replace them quite frequently to keep them getting too gungey and so I buy a box every year or two.

Wind noise is probably the most damaging sound you can listen to

It's certainly up there.

[Scota]

I would like to add that one could be distracted from traffic by music or you ignore important signals like horns.

[milehighboater]

I ride with ear buds most of the time. I use the "noise isolating" ones that have the little gel things on the end. I found that the gels fall off almost instantly and then I replace them with a cut-off chunk of regular foam ear plugs. Just remove the gels kinda measure out how long the nub is on the ear bud and cut it to size. Then all you have to do is take a hot paperclip make a hole through the center and slip it on. This way you get the best of both worlds, you can listen to music quietly and still hear the world around you or you can just put them in and have the wind noise knocked out. Either way I always keep it down enough that I can hear the bike and the world around me. Also, just go with the cheep ones. Nothing over 20 dollars they break pretty easy and it is easier to get the earplugs to fit on.

[Grey Thumper]

I sometimes listen to music on really boring parts of rides, like freeways/motorways. I use earplugs (to cut out the wind roar) combined with a Sena bluetooth system paired with my iPhone. It's pretty easy to use voice commands to call up a playlist, or play songs by a specific artist, etc. You don't actually have to have the volume tuned up so loud (especially if the songs are familiar); it's just almost ambient music to keep you from getting bored and tuning out. If the conditions get a bit more "interesting" (more traffic, or you reach two-lane country roads or a city), it's easy enough to turn off the music.

[milehighboater]

Just a quick note about the buds. I recently replaced my ear buds and found a new problem. See before I just bought the cheaper buds and never had a problem. My wife bought me a pair of bass buds with a microphone and the plugs kept cutting out over 50mph. I found that the wind was driving the mic too hard and shorting out my iPhone 3.5mm jack. I solved the issue by wrapping the mic with a foam earplug and tape and stuffing the mic in my helmet. Goes to show you that when it comes to ear buds cheaper is better.

[whitelightning]

I frequently use earplugs with my Sena system. The speaker system didn't work, probably 'cause my hearing sucks after years of jet noise and 5" guns. I thought I was set with Etymotics ER6i's, but I found true Nirvana with S PLUG CANAL EARBUDS. They fit better, don't hurt my ears after a few hours, have stout cables and short cables. They also sound superb. Easily the equal to the Ety's. They really isolate road noise and yet allow me to hear the stuff I really need to hear.

[Dr. Strangelove]

How do they fit in a helmet? I had the etys but they wore out. Their replacements stick out farther so they freq get pulled out when removing my helmet.

[whitelightning]

If the Etys fit, the S Canals will be better. Very small, fit pretty far in the ear. Hands down better than anything else I've used.

[custom352]

I've used a pair of Shure E2 isolating earbuds for the last 8 years and wore out the cord on them.
Just got a pair of Shure E215 to replace them (and they have a replaceable cord for in the future)
They fit inside my helmet well and isolate much of the road noise even when the music or audiobook isn't playing.