Great Earphones

[junglejim]

I just made my first attempt at adding sound inside my helmet. I've never had any speakers or ear buds before and I put off getting any because I am unable to understand the audio because of my hearing loss (which is profound).

So I went to my local audiologist and had custom ear moulds made and got fitted with custom earphones. They are WestTone CR 10 and they work very well. I'm really impressed. They occlude most of the road noise on the bike and the sound quality is great for me. I hope to use them mostly for audio directions from my GPS. I haven't listened to music for years because I can't understand the lyrics and miss a lot of the sounds, but I may try that now. I tried using bluetooth to my hearing aids (which are hard to wear with my helmet) and the road noise overpowered the audio and it was unusable. The helmet is hard to get on and off with the earphones, but possible. I have no intention of talking on my phone while riding, but I'm enjoying the audio.

I know hearing loss is a problem for other members on here and thought some may be as happy as I am with such a product.

 

[Curious Mike]

Thank you for this information, Jim.
I'm slowly headed down that same road.
I'm guessing they are pricey?

 

[RedNigel]

When I went to the motorcycle show there was a guy there making custom ear plugs. If I remember correctly, if all you wanted was earplugs they were about $160ish
If you wanted speakers in them you started moving into the $300 and up range
Visually they looked just like the plugs the race car drivers wear

 

[junglejim]

I'm guessing they are pricey?

On the Westone web site (http://www.westoneaudio.com/index.php/products/custom-series/cr10.html) they are $350. I paid the audiology clinic $360 including the custom ear impressions and follow-up support from the audiologist. There are cheaper options out there, but with my hearing limitations I didn't want to compromise anything and I'm glad I didn't. Some of the cheaper ones protrude more which would make getting a tight fitting helmet on almost impossible.

When I went to the motorcycle show there was a guy there making custom ear plugs. If I remember correctly, if all you wanted was earplugs they were about $160ish

At the bike show at Minneapolis last year my riding buddy got custom earplugs for $70 and he is happy with them.

 

[junglejim]

I don't know the decibel rating of the CR10s but the are much more occlusive than foam ear plugs. I think the audiologist said that they could be vented to allow more ambient sounds in. That would be better for a person with normal hearing. For me the common earbuds with silicon seals were way too noisy.

 

[Warren]

Etymotic makes some good ones.

http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/mc5.html

The MC5's show a 35-42 db noise reduction.

I have another model that has been discontinued that I wear and they work well although on occasion if I am not careful putting on my helmet one might get moved and not have a tight fit in my ear which is noticeable when I get moving and I have to stop and make an adjustment.

 

[junglejim]

Yes, Etymotic has good reputation but my audiologist wanted to use Westone. Fit is critical for any of them.