Best hearing protection for riding a motorbike?
My beauty - Honda NT1100
Motorcyclists can get a very significant noise exposure while riding, especially when at speed on motorways and dual carriageways. I myself have a bike and know from experience that a couple of hours up a motorway can leave the ears ringing from the wind noise but also tyre noise from other vehicles. Passing HGVs can get painful sometimes with the tyre and engine noise being right at your head height.
There are lot of companies out there peddling special hearing protection for motorbikes but you don’t need to spend big money on it.
There are two key features when choosing hearing protection for riding motorbikes:
The protection should be ‘enough’ - you want the top to be taken off the noise but not to be isolated. Being able to still hear traffic is important, as well as things like an intercom. The protection needs to reduce the noise to a comfortable level but not by too much.
The protection needs to be soft so that over the course of a few hours the slight pressure of the helmet on the ears and on the ear plug doesn’t start to get painful. Ear plugs which are perfectly fine to walk around in can get quite painful over time on a bike.
Choosing ear plugs for a motorbike - how strong they should be
SNR is the means of identifying how powerful ear plugs are. It means Single Number Rating and is how many decibels it reduces noise by.
Generally, on a motorbike you want something of a mid-range value so from 14dB (as low as they go) up to around 25dB at most. Avoid the ear plugs above this as it gets too isolating on a motorbike.
I often see adverts decrying foam ear plugs as bad but that is rather simplistic. It’s like using the word ‘motorbike’ to describe every type of two wheeled transport out there. Foam ear plugs come in all strengths - the gentlest hearing protection on the market are foam plugs and the strongest hearing protection on the market are also foam plugs.
There is nothing overly special about motorbike noise or about the right hearing protection and the biggest mistake made is usually someone choosing protection which is too strong.
How loud is the noise on a motorbike?
As a time-served noise-nerd I have developed a superpower which impresses nobody, indeed when I can’t stop myself from demonstrating it people look at me with something verging on pity. But, I am good at walking into a factory, listening, and saying ‘that’s about 93 dB(A)’, then measure the noise and I am usually spot-on. I told you it was both useless and a bit tragic.
So, while I haven’t measured the noise under my helmet (a Nolan thingy), I can say with some confidence that when riding up the M6 or M1 noise levels are easily consistent around 95 to 96 dB(A), and peaking a lot higher at times as you pass an HGV.
In technical jargon that is ‘proper loud’.
Recommended ear plugs for a motorcycle
My recommendations for ear plugs on a motorcycle are:
E-A-R Ultrafit 14 - a low SNR of 14dB, lowest on the market.
E-A-R Ultrafit 20 - same, but with an SNR of 20dB.
E-A-Rsoft 21 - a vey comfortable soft plug, with an SNR of 21dB.
Moldex Mellows - a soft plug with an SNR of 21dB
2025 Update - Loop Experience 2 plugs.
I have been trying the Loop Experience 2 plugs under the helmet and am finding these to be very good as well. Their SNR of 17 dB is nice and low and they are comfy under the helmet. They do mute the helmet stereo a bit but you can still hear it.
If you are going the Loop route, make sure it is the Experience 2 variety. I also have some Loop Quiet 2 plugs for work and these are too strong on the bike, I can’t hear the stereo / radio / podcasts at all when wearing these and on motorways start to feel a little ‘disconnected’ from the surroundings, which is not ideal.
My choice of ear plugs on a motorbike - what I actually use
Of those, I really like the E-A-Rsoft 21 and Moldex Mellows as they are both really soft so minimise that ache you an develop around the ear canal from the helmet pressing on them, and they are not isolating. I can still hear my Sena intercom clearly over them. I also use the Loop Experience 2 a lot now and these have become my main choice on more recent rides.
They are not big money, the Mellows are about 16p a pair, less if you buy a bulk box.
The Loop Experience 2 plugs are far more expensive, I paid about £30 for mine, but they are washable and reusable so that will even out over time.
One other bit of motorbike noise advice
I know this is preaching to the choir, and also very old-man, but way more effective than ear plugs is fitting a slightly bigger screen. My bike had the stock Honda NT1100 screen and you can feel the wind at 70 hitting you right in the middle of the helmet, to the point I couldn’t hear the Sena intercom at all when at motorway speeds, even with it on full volume.
I added a slightly bigger screen (not massive and I can still see over it) but now the wind goes over the top of the helmet and makes a huge difference. I can hear the intercom clearly at maybe only 2/3 of the volume now.
It may not suit the ‘knee down’ sporty riders, but if you are not quite that way inclined then spending a hundred quid or so on a slightly bigger screen makes a huge difference.
