MOTO+ Earplugs for Motorsport and Track Noise

Legal first: there is no law in the UK Highway Code or Road Traffic Act that explicitly bans earplugs while driving. Highway Code Rule 148 asks drivers to avoid equipment that may prevent them from hearing the road. That’s the relevant standard – and it’s worth understanding what that actually means.

Here’s the counterintuitive truth, confirmed by experienced drivers on UK and professional trucking forums: “Wearing foam ear plugs makes it easier to hear the radio and outside noise such as car horns and emergency sirens. The ear plugs block out virtually all wind and tyre noise.”

The reason: a car horn at close range produces around 110 dB. A siren around 112 dB. Motorway tyre and wind noise runs at 70–85 dB as a constant background. Earplugs reduce that steady background roar – which means sharp, sudden sounds like horns and sirens become more distinct against a quieter background, not less. You’re improving the signal-to-noise ratio, not eliminating the signal.

The sensible approach: use bollsen earplugs to reduce road noise fatigue, remain alert to your surroundings, and apply the same common-sense standard you would to any driving aid.

More than most drivers realise. Measured levels inside vehicles at motorway speeds:

• Car at 65 mph, windows up: ~72 dBA
• Car at 65 mph, windows down: ~81 dBA
• Van / older vehicle at motorway speed: mid-to-high 80s dBA
• HGV cab average: 89 dB – range up to 103 dB
• Bus cab: 88–102 dB

At 85 dB, the WHO recommends a maximum of one hour of unprotected exposure. The EU occupational health action level – the point at which an employer must provide hearing protection to workers – is 80 dB. A three-hour motorway run in a van with the windows slightly cracked already exceeds these thresholds.

Professional drivers have known this for years. As one TruckersReport veteran put it: “All of the old timers are deaf or going deaf. Modern truck interiors are still loud enough to ruin your hearing – it just takes a little longer than in the old days.”

Some of it is. But a significant part is what researchers call noise-induced fatigue – and it’s distinct from simply being tired from concentrating.

Your brain never fully switches off from monitoring ambient sound, even when you’re not consciously listening. Constant road drone, tyre roar, and wind noise force a sustained low-level cognitive load across the entire journey. Studies show that in-vehicle noise triggers a cortisol stress response that impairs the prefrontal cortex – the part of the brain responsible for planning, judgement, and impulse control. It also measurably increases reaction time.

A peer-reviewed study (PLOS One) tested drivers in two noise conditions across a motorway simulation. The louder condition caused more lane crossings at night and slower speed selection – not because drivers were trying to compensate, but because cognitive resources were already depleted by the noise. Brake (UK road safety charity) cites noise fatigue as a contributing factor to the 10–20% of all road crashes that involve driver fatigue.

Reducing the road noise you’re absorbing doesn’t put you to sleep. It removes the background load that’s draining the reserves you need to stay sharp.

If you’re in a van, lorry, or older car for several hours a day, the answer is very probably yes – gradually, silently, and in a way you won’t notice until the damage is already done.

A study of 200 truck drivers found 50.5% showed hearing loss in their better ear. A cross-sectional study of 65,533 professional drivers found 26.8% had measurable hearing loss. Damage typically begins at high frequencies (3,000–6,000 Hz) – the range responsible for speech clarity. The first sign most people notice isn’t deafness. It’s asking people to repeat themselves. Turning the radio up a bit more than they used to.

The most honest assessment came from a driver on TruckersReport: “Many drivers don’t recognise their hearing loss. You can always turn up the radio a little bit and not notice.”

UK lorry drivers specifically show disproportionate left-ear damage – from years of driving with the driver’s side window partially open. One Trucknet UK member traced a specific hearing problem to a week driving a vehicle with a whistling turbo. The damage compounds across a career. There is no treatment for noise-induced hearing loss. There is only prevention.

Yes. What you’re describing is a temporary threshold shift – your cochlea has been pushed past its recovery capacity. The ringing or muffled feeling usually resolves within hours or overnight. The key word is usually.

Tinnitus forum members who drive regularly describe this progression with uncomfortable accuracy:

• “At freeway speeds, an hour at high speed will cause my tinnitus to spike considerably until the next day.”
• “Driving makes it worse. But not while driving – with a delay.” (The lag between exposure and symptom is why drivers don’t connect the two.)
• “I am pretty sure I messed up my ears from long car drives.”

The delay is the dangerous part. By the time the ringing appears, the exposure is over. By the time the ringing becomes permanent, the exposure has been happening for years. The audiogram shows the damage; nothing restores what’s already been lost.

Yes, legally and practically. Under the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005, UK employers must act when noise reaches 80 dB (lower action value: risk assessment and information) and 85 dB (upper action value: provision of hearing protection). HGV cab averages of 89 dB and ranges up to 103 dB place professional drivers well above both thresholds on most working days.

Whether your employer has acted on this or not, your hearing is your own. A set of properly fitted earplugs is the cheapest occupational health intervention available to a professional driver. For someone behind the wheel 8–10 hours a day, 5 days a week, the cumulative exposure across a career is substantial. Hearing loss begins after as little as 2–4 years in high-noise driving environments. It is irreversible.

One forum member put it simply: “Your cost of wearing earplugs is looking slightly unusual for a couple of hours. The benefit is a chance to prevent a lifetime of constant noise in your head.”

No – and the research suggests the opposite effect. Noise fatigue is one of the mechanisms driving motorway drowsiness. Reducing the cognitive load of constant background noise leaves more mental resource available for the task of driving, not less.

The confusion comes from conflating two different things: sensory deprivation (which can contribute to drowsiness in isolation) and noise reduction (which removes a fatiguing stimulus while keeping you engaged with the road). Earplugs do the latter. You still hear the engine, other vehicles, your audio system, and road feedback. You simply remove the grinding tyre roar that has been draining you for the past two hours without you noticing.

If you’re feeling drowsy on a long drive, the answer is always to stop and rest. Earplugs are not a fatigue management tool. They are a noise damage and fatigue prevention tool – reducing the load that accumulates hour by hour before the drowsiness even arrives.

Each bollsen set includes your earplugs in medical-grade silicone, sized precisely to your ear canal via AR KI TECH, with a compact carry case that fits in a door pocket or glovebox and a Fit Guide. Free UK delivery. Returns and exchanges are free if the fit isn’t right – though with AR KI TECH sizing our return rate sits at around 3%, so it rarely comes to that.