my black Wednesday "gift" to you

Gene Weygandt · Nov 27, 2024

It's an exceedingly tiny "gift" but if you're interested in noise cancelling earbuds, I found Soundcore by Anker on amazon for $60. I'm not affiliated. I'd started using foam earplugs after developing both hearing loss and tinnitus. Likely from long hours in the saddle even with a full-face helmet and fully faired bikes. (don't screw around with your hearing!) I used a buncha different ear plugs for a number of years and felt like they did the trick for me, but for $60 I was curious. Just one man's opinion, but I like 'em a lot. YMMV. If I use just the noise cancelling option, all I hear is the tinnitus. Very little road or engine noise. BUT for me, when I add music or radio it's great. Pro tip: Bossa nova and curvy country roads. Ride safe and happy holidays!

SkooterG · Nov 27, 2024

Do you mean these for $45???

Souncore Space A40

To me those look a little big. For me, big = pain as the helmet pushes on them against my ear.

Do they actually block noise? IOW, if the noise cancelling and music were off do they block the roar of ambient noise like a foam ear plug?

I have been using the S-Plug for years due their small size and the fact that they are so small and soft. Very good speaker quality too.

Gene Weygandt · Nov 28, 2024

SkooterG said:
Do you mean these for $45???

Souncore Space A40

To me those look a little big. For me, big = pain as the helmet pushes on them against my ear.

Do they actually block noise? IOW, if the noise cancelling and music were off do they block the roar of ambient noise like a foam ear plug?

I have been using the S-Plug for years due their small size and the fact that they are so small and soft. Very good speaker quality too.

They do in fact block the ambient noise to the degree that unless I'm playing music or talk radio, all I'm aware of is the "imaginary" ringing sound caused by the tinnitus. I've never ridden using them in that way so I'm not sure about the silence. Ordinarily, I have to kind of think about the tinnitus to be aware of it when I'm wearing my hearing aids. I've always taken the hearing aids out when I'm riding so I can put in foam earplugs. When I use the earbuds, the degree to which I hear other stuff like cars or someone speaking to me depends on the volume of the music and proximity of the other sound. But it's def better. The other day I carried on a brief, half-shouted convo with a gal working as the flagger at construction site while I waited for the lane to open. As for the size, they come with a variety of sizes of domes; the rubber part that actually inserts into your ear. The problem I had is not that they're too big, but that they fall out when I remove my helmet. My Shuberth has a sort of space near the ear. Now that it's been colder and I wear a balaclava over my head they remain ion place better. The part I imagine you're seeing that looks big fits comfortably into whatever that shape of the ear is called that's sort of to the rear of the ear canal. But if you've got something that works, good on you, mate! I'd started looking when I went riding with a friend who has Bose NC earbuds and imagined it could be a good idea for me. The Bose ( again, I''m not affiliated) NC earbuds were close to $300 at the time. No idea now. I'm really not trying to "pitch" anyone. I just sort of imagined that there are plenty of riders with a similar degree of tinnitus or guys who just hate the wind noise or whatever. happy holidays, everyone!