Small headphones that don't hurt while wearing helmet?

[bmwr1150rbmw]

For long trips I'd like to listen to music. The average/typical earphones don't sit well under a full face helmet and hurt my ears. When wearing earplugs I have to cut them in half to fit nicely. I was wondering if there are headphones available that are super samll. Thanks!

[challey]

I use a pair of Shure sound-isolating ear phones like these: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/ ... B&ZYXSEM=0
They fit completely in the ear (originally designed for stage musicians) and attenuate most extraneous noise, with the wires coming up and then over and behind the external ear and running down your back. Mine came with a variety of different type/size sleeves - you pick which one works best in your ear. Sound quality is quite good - much more sonically true than standard ear buds. You will likely need to play around with the padding in your helmet to get a comfortable fit though.

These phones are very effective at blocking noise - I also wear mine on airplanes not only to listen to my MP3 player but also to plug into the plane's system for movies and music. They actually work almost too well since they deaden most of the exterior noise and so could be dangerous for use on the road. Cost was reasonable to, if memory serves I paid about $65.

Shure apparently makes other sound-isolating types that do not fit the ear completely. You can check them our here: http://store.shure.com/store/shure/Disp ... D.12165500

Charlie

[sweatmark]

Etymotic ER6i work OK, with shorter depth into ear canal -and less protruding section outside ear- than other in-ear types. The problem I've had with in-ear monitors is the cord: where to run the wires, such that wind noise is managed (wires can vibrate due too turbulence and transmit vibes to the ear), and there's enough slack to avoid problems with helmet movement.

The other option is a set of helmet speakers, either alone or as part of a comms system like Autocom. My current preference is to use an Autocom system and its speaker set for music and communications, while wearing earplugs. Music sound quality is definitely not audiophile, but I'll sacrifice audio quality for the ability to hear a bit of outside noise (like adjacent cars & trucks) for safety's sake.

FWIW - our daughter also uses earplugs cut in half to accomodate shallow ear canals. She seems pretty happy with the Autocom speakers in her helmet in terms of comfort, and couldn't stand the one time she tried using in-ear monitors (ER6i) under her helmet. Of course, when she rides pillion with me, the use of Autocom speakers means that both rider and pillion listen to the same music... I've ridden far too many miles with Hannah Montana ringing in my brain, both during the ride and for days afterwards.

[FloridaBeakster]

I like the Koss Plug Earbuds: Koss Plug

I ditch the foam covers and replace them with a set of modified earplugs. To prep the earplug, I drill a small hole (either 7/64 or 3/32) through the middle of the plug and then slice off about 1/3 to 1/4 of the length of the plug. They then fit very nicely over the tube of the Koss earbuds. If desired, you could trim the earplugs even more and trim the tubes attached to the earbuds also. I make up a handful when I make them so I have some spares if I lose one or they get too dirty.

The foam earplugs block the ambient noise nicely and fit well (better than the ones that come with the earbuds - on both accounts) so you don't have to crank up the volume very much. The modified earplugs are key to making this work, but the whole setup is extremely inexpensive and works well.

[TicTac50]

All the good headsets that go into the ear canal will get you the most excellent sound, but after long period of use will do some damage to your ears.
What worked for me? I found a headset made by Philips for $14.99 at Target or CVS Pharmacy. I think it is model SHS5200 with the db level of 106.
Just cut the plastic ring off and install the speakers into you helmet. Do not hide them behind the lining of the helmet and use Velcro a sponges to make sure that the speakers are pressing against your ears.
You will have no more buffering noise in the helmet and the sound is first class. Apple Ipod put out enough sound to run the speakers, but for the phone and radar detector I use Boostaroo.
I also use RF transmitter instead of the wire between headset in the helmet and 3in1 audio source. Works fine for me.
Good Luck.

[duke]

Sennheiser - the dog's danglies (I am sure you can get them in the US of A).

And I doubt they would damage your ears.
Unless you blast your ears that is.
Take care to wash the rubber in-ear unserts, and all is well.
I have been using those for 2 years - must admit - mostly listening to iPod, less riding bike (do not like distractions while dodging the cagers).
Listening to GPS instructions with the helmet on is clear at speed.

[bmwr1150rbmw]

Thank you! That is exactly what I needed. Much appreciated!

[riceburner]

If you have a helmet with recesses in the padding near your ears you can get a cheap pair of "outer" headphones, remove the bodywork, and fit the small speakers in the lid semi-permantently. (in my Arai they will under the liner on the cheek pads so are invisible too).

Then you can wear your earplugs as normal, and setup the music to be audible at normal speeds. Expect to NOT be able to hear anything above about 70-80mph though. This is where wind-roar will overcome anything else (and is why you NEED to be still wearing earplugs).

[MattPie]

All the good headsets that go into the ear canal will get you the most excellent sound, but after long period of use will do some damage to your ears.

Even if you don't crank them up? Any studies done on this you know of?
/EDIT/
Is this is what you're talking about?
http://digital-lifestyles.info/2005/12/ ... aring-loss
Not exactly a news flash, loud noise over extended periods causes hearing loss. I'd venture to say that noise-blocking head phones are *better* than ipod-style ear buds, since it blocks the background noise so you don't need to up the volume.
/EDIT/

I bought these at Curcuit City for $35: http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/productD ... oid=191333
They sound pretty good to me, and they block as much sound without music as my usual non-wired earplugs. There a bunch of tips in there, one may be small enough for you.

[awagnon]

I have very small ear canals and the only thing that I could tolerate with a full face helmet were Etymotic ER6i ear phones with the smallest tips. Also, cut away as much of the foam in the helmet around the ear that you feel safe removing. Finally, I switched to Arizona Al's custom molded ear speakers and wow. Much more comfortable and 100% better sounds. Certainly they cost more, but he stands behind them. I carry the Etymotics for a backup, but never have to use them. I also plug them into a small FM radio. My Sirius satellite radio and my ZUMO re-transmit to the FM radio in my pocket, so I don't have any wires to mess with. (The ZUMO uses a small, add-on FM transmitter.)

[toolinalong]

I went this route when I got the Zumo GPS with it's built in MP3 player. I had previously always used foam ear plugs to block wind noise. I used Etymotic ER6i' s at first. Great sound and blocked as much wind noise as the foam ear plugs, but after about the 4th day (on long trips) of all day riding my ear canals were chafed and sore, and I would have to wear the foam plugs again for a while until they healed. Then I saw Arizona Al's units on an RT rider while up in Canada last summer. I called him up when I got home, and lo and behold, he said the company that made them for him was right near where I live. So I went down and got fitted for a pair. Absolutely amazing comfort, good noise reduction, and better then adequate quality of sound (not much low end, but I see they now have a new version with 2 drivers, so maybe they have gotten better in that regard).

The company name is Ear,Inc. (www.earinc.com) and the model I purchased is the iPlugz Sports Monitors.

At first when I got them home I did a quick comparison with the 6i's, and I was bummed cause I thought the sound was not nearly as good. But it turns out once you have the helmet on the sound is of almost identical quality as the 6i, as the helmet apparently to some degree acts like an audio speaker cabinet. I would not be surprised to discover they are using Etymotic units in their molds. (I did ask, and they wouldn't tell me!) So I find the sound is completely acceptable, given the environment in which we wear them: noisy. Buy the best first if you can, mine were $229, and way worth it (the newer ones are more expensive).

[rdsmith3]

I use Etymotic er6i with the triple flange rubber tips. They work great for me at blocking out wind noise. I tried the Shure but they did not fit well under my helmet. The Etymotics fit very well under my helmet.

I have used these for several years with a lot of highway riding (so the wires get whipped around a lot) and they have been very durable.

I also use a Radio Shack in-line volume control.

[drsales1]

http://www.earphonesolutions.com/

Read and learn.

I use Westone UM2

[TicTac50]

MattPie.
Thanks for the link to the article. http://www.digital-lifestyles.info/2005 ... aring-loss
No, I did not read it until now. I do agree with all the comments about beautiful technology that was design to be used under normal conditions but not in the helmet while riding a motorcycle. Nothing should go into your ear canal except a Q-Tip or a Hearing Aid and sometimes your better half's complains.
I am relying totally on my daughter’s advice, who is soon to be a doctor in the field we all debating here plus my personal experience. When article is mentioning Noise-canceling headphones, they are talking about normal every day noise and not 75mph buffering wind plus 4000 rpm running engine 3 feet away from your ears. If you are using properly fitted helmet, 95% of the time you take that helmet off and ear-buds will come out of the your ears in a very painful way the least. Even the better made and more expensive ear-buds have a very thin wire that will come apart after a very short time of use. Ear-buds do produce nice sound, in the living room only, but keep the volume at the same level as in the living room and put the helmet on, get on the bike and ride the speed of 75mph. I bet, you will hear absolutely nothing but wind. How many riders actually listen to the music for one hour only on 600 miles a day trip? My riding buddy has an RT with the beautiful and very expensive sound system that came with the bike. On the last trip from Miami to Wyoming Rally, one speaker went south, so, we put Philips SHS5200 headset into his Nolan-102 helmet and plugged it into his bike’s radio via heavy stereo cable. He liked it much better than original factory setup. There is no perfect system that will work for all of us. It is a matter of taste and the size of the wallet.
The way we are going, we should all buy stocks in a good Hearing Aid company like Miracle Ear, Beltone or Siemens.
It is nice to be a customer and the owner, all at the same time.
Good Luck.

[pinecone]

Wow, this thread is drifting all over. Kind of confusing. I too use the Etymotic ER6i, usually with the flanged tips but sometimes the foam. The beauty of these is the option of the different tips. The body of the earpiece is very small - so small that I had to tie a piece of fish line to have something to grab for removal. So if you get the right tips they should be pretty comfortable for most folks under a helmet. The other nice thing is the cord is very soft & flexible and doesn't transmit much noise from the wind whipping the cord around. (Although I run the 6' long cord under my jacket.)

As far as hearing damage, I see 4 options (all with FF helmet of course):
1. No earplugs, no tunes
2. Earplugs, no tunes
3. Sound-isolating earbuds (like earplugs but with tunes)
4. No earplugs, tunes through speakers

Obviously #2 is the best option, but if you want tunes, how could #3 be any worse than #4?

[MattPie]

The other nice thing is the cord is very soft & flexible and doesn't transmit much noise from the wind whipping the cord around. (Although I run the 6' long cord under my jacket.)

As far as hearing damage, I see 4 options (all with FF helmet of course):
1. No earplugs, no tunes
2. Earplugs, no tunes
3. Sound-isolating earbuds (like earplugs but with tunes)
4. No earplugs, tunes through speakers

Obviously #2 is the best option, but if you want tunes, how could #3 be any worse than #4?

There's also #5, which is helmet speakers and earplugs. You'd probably need a pre-amp to get enough juice to the speakers to hear through the ear-plugs, however, and even then you won't exactly get hi-fidelity sound.

As for the cord, I find tucking some of the cord up into the helmet at the back of my neck reduces the noises of the in-ears getting pulled on. If I used this setup on a regular basis, I'd probably work out a plastic hook on the helmet to act as strain relief.

[MattPie]

Nothing should go into your ear canal except a Q-Tip or a Hearing Aid and sometimes your better half complains.

No earplugs? That seems like the fast-track to hearing aid.

I am relying totally on my daughter’s advice, who is soon to be a doctor in the field we all debating here plus my personal experience. When article is mentioning Noise-canceling headphones, they are talking about normal every day noise and not 75mph buffering wind plus 4000 rpm running engine 3 feet away from your ears. If you are using properly fitted helmet, 95% of the time you take that helmet off and ear-buds will come out of the your ears in a very painful way the least. Even the better made and more expensive ear-buds have a very thin wire that will come apart after a very short time of use.

Note: I'm not trying to sound adversarial, I think this is a very good discussion.

We're not really talking about 'noise-canceling' earphones, which to me mean the active-electronics type (Bose 'Quiet-comfort' being the big name in the market). Active noise-canceling aren't bad, but if you look at the specs they only block 15-20dB, and that's only by producing a canceling wave form through the speakers. These are *not* what you want on the bike (IMHO). I'm not sure how effective they are against the white-ish-noise that you get in a helmet at speed, and even if they are they don't block enough sound.

In my experience, the in-ear noise-blocking phones (not 'ear-buds', nor noise-canceling) I mentioned (JVCs) block as much sound as the ear-plugs I use. Looking it up, the plugs I use are very similar to EAR Ultrafit 27s listed here: http://www.earinc.com/p1-reusable-reusable.php. I say similar since they ones I have are a few years old, and I don't have the cord and I've trimmed the stems to fit under my helmet. The in-ears I have seem to block just as much sound (or maybe a little more) as the plugs. So if I don't turn on any music, they're equivalent. Hopefully, the plugs or phones are blocking enough noise that I'm down around 80dB while I'm on the bike (85dB being the general "extended exposure will cause damage" number). The room I'm sitting in right now is probably close to 80dB (there are a lot servers and air-con units in the room next door).

Ear-buds do produce nice sound, in the living room only, but keep the volume at the same level as in the living room and put the helmet on, get on the bike and ride the speed of 75mph. I bet, you will hear absolutely nothing but wind. How many riders actually listen to the music for one hour only on 600 miles a day trip? My riding buddy has an RT with the beautiful and very expensive sound system that came with the bike. On the last trip from Miami to Wyoming Rally, one speaker went south, so, we put Philips SHS5200 headset into his Nolan-102 helmet and plugged it into his bike’s radio via heavy stereo cable. He liked it much better than original factory setup. There is no perfect system that will work for all of us. It is a matter of taste and the size of the wallet.

I haven't tried listening to music while riding with these phones, but people I know have and were happy. I *will* be trying to living-room-to-bike test when I get my bike back together. I never really planned on using the in-ears for music, I just figured they'd be a good way to do GPS eventually, and be able to hear the caller-announce on my cell phone to decide if I want to pull over and call the person back.

To be honest, I'm not sold on music while riding. There are a lot of psycho-acoustic processing that the ear and brain do with sound. The ear/brain mask quiet sounds when there's a loud sound. This is actually how MP3s compress data. The software figures out (supposedly) what sounds the ear won't be able to hear and eliminates them. I can imagine the same thing happening with a car coming up behind you being quieter than the music that's being played.

[rdsmith3]

As far as listening to music while riding, let's agree that good judgment needs to be used.

Riding a motorcycle is inherently riskier and more complex than driving a car.

When I commute, I have some highway stretches that are uneventful. At these times I will listen to music or talk radio.

However, if I am on twisty roads or in riskier situations, I will not listen to anything. I have an in-line volume control, and I just turn it all the way down or hit mute on the Zumo. I do not want any unnecessary distractions. My brain is feeble enough without additional noise.

That is one reason I really like the Etymotic er6i ear buds with the triple flange tips -- when I turn off the music, I still have a good set of ear plugs in my ears.

[pinecone]

That is one reason I really like the Etymotic er6i ear buds with the triple flange tips -- when I turn off the music, I still have a good set of ear plugs in my ears.

+1
I use them on airplanes more often than on the bike. During the time where "electronic devices are not allowed" I happily comply by turning off the iPod but leave the Etymotics in just for the peace & quiet.

[dnat928]

I bought a set of the Etymotic noise cancelling ear buds at Buy.com - but they were a waste of money...on several levels. First, there is not really any noise cancelling feature - just an attempt at snug fitting ear plugs, with the sound emitters in them. They did not fit my ears at all - they just fell out. Being ill fitting, there was NO noise blockage.

So I got an return authorization and promptly sent them back. It's been several months now and they haven't returned or credited my money - they just kept the $85 + shipping (both ways). Quite a deal. So if you are temped to use Buy.com, just be prepared to be ripped off if their merchandise is no good.