NoNoise Motorsport Earplugs Review
Riding a motorcycle is hard on your ears. Between engine noise and wind noise, especially at high speeds, ears take a beating.
Many motorcyclists have used foam or silicone ear protection, but NoNoise Motorsport earplugs are an interesting alternative to simply trying to block out as much noise as possible.
Instead, their goal is to allow desirable sounds in—horns, sirens, music, and voice—while reducing the harmful white noise.
With a flexible thermoplastic outer construction, a simple twist easily seats the earplug, while the interior ceramic filter tunes out damaging frequencies. NoNoise has produced, by far, the easiest installed and most comfortable earplugs I have used, and I use ear-plugs almost daily.
They stay put when I slide my helmet on or off, my ears don’t get sore on long rides, and I have no feeling of isolation from the world by sealing off the ear canal—it is easy to forget they are in. Yes, NoNoise Motorsport earplugs are that unobtrusive. Oh, and they come with a convenient aluminum storage tube that can be attached to a key ring.
For additional information, visit NoNoise Motorsport.
Yes, but how do they perform other than being comfortable?
Visiting the manufacturer’s website for technical details, I see these are very expensive and do not offer anything like the low frequency attenuation so critical to preserving hearing over the long term. Most disposable foam earplugs provide attenuations in the range of 32 dB for a good one. These don’t even reach that at their most efficient frequencies. Helpful, yes, but not helpful enough. For that kind of dough I can purchase a year’s supply of 3M or similar foam earplugs.
On the other hand, I ride only naked and sportbikes, which have pretty high levels of wind noise. Those on bikes with substantial wind protection may not need as much reduction; these may be just the thing for that category of rider. I’ve used this type of earplug before (it is not a new concept) for noisy automobiles or environments where some sound reduction is helpful. They do work pretty well. The only issue is the long stem tends to protrude and catch with the helmets I use, and the three silicone sealing rings never seem to fit quite correctly or to stay in place once the ear begins to secrete wax and heat up during the ride.