T.W. - “I work in a loud repair shop that overhauls and repairs aircraft brakes and wheels. On any given day multiple media blasters are operating along with high powered ventilation machines and the normal sound of drills, hammers, etc..

Obviously at the end of the day I’m looking for some peace and quite so often I’ll saddle up on my Harley Davidson Road King and take the long way home to unwind. Now here comes the wind noise…

I’ve tried just about everything when it comes to hearing protection. Foam ear plugs , noise cancelling headphones, “motorcycle” ear plugs with filters, silicone ear plugs, etc.… On the job foam ear plugs and noise cancelling headphones work, but both block so much noise that hearing co-workers is difficult at best if not impossible.

On the bike, I’ve tried just about everything you can imagine. New ear plugs come out all the time so obviously I haven’t tried them all, but I’ve tried enough... most fit one of my ears fine but not the other, when they do fit the amount of noise reduction is usually too much. I need to hear cars, sirens and yeah, I like to listen to my Vance and Hines pipes… but the wind noise can be almost painful at high speeds if I’m riding with no ear plugs.

I decided it was time to try custom ear plugs and after a lot of research I had impressions made at a local hearing aid center and ordered custom ear plugs with the Hocks noise filter. Hocks turned my order around in about a week. I opted for clear with an orange “tint”. The end result is transparent enough to see the filters for a quick visual indication of Right (Red filter ) versus Left ( Blue filter ) . Hocks offers plenty of colors to choose from as well as clear.

So, how do they work? First, I tried them out at work. I noticed immediately that these didn’t sound like your normal ear plug. At my work station I could hear employees talking on the phone, I could hear all the normal usual noises in a shop environment, but right away I noticed the loudest machines we have sounded as if someone turned the volume down. I walked over to one of our media blasters, which is loud enough to require a raised voice at least if not a good yell to get the attention of anyone around it. I asked the operator what they were working on, and I could hear the reply with the equipment still running. Over the past couple of days, I’ve worn the Hocks around the loudest equipment I work around and the perceived level of noise is about as loud as someone talking.

Customer Testimonials

Okay, let’s go for a motorcycle ride. First, with a half helmet. I noticed right away I could hear wind noise, but as I increased speed I didn’t get the painful level of wind noise that I had previously experienced when riding with no ear plugs. I swapped the half helmet for a full face helmet and the Hocks concaved shape made putting on and removing a full face helmet easy. Wind Noise isn’t an issue with the full face helmet, obviously, but the Hocks ear plugs keep the exhaust notes down to a comfortable level while still being able to hear vehicles around you. If you have speakers in your helmet for listening to music or communication devices, you can wear these and still listen to your music, talk on the phone or communicate with your buddies.

All in all this is an excellent product and well worth the time to have impressions made and the money spent. Truth be told I could have saved the money spent trying all of the other products I’ve tried and ordered these first!”