On the bike the result is immediately obvious: these things totally rock. Thankfully, unlike with some earplugs, when you squeeze your helmet onto your head they aren’t affected by the movement – the secure fit putting up a fight to succumb to a break in the air pressure. Not being able to hear is an odd sensation at first, but the bone conduction effect quickly becomes second nature, sounds entering your head in a new and profound way. Or perhaps I really did just push them in so far that they were pressing against my brain and affecting my ability to think clearly. There’s almost a calming, meditative effect that kicks in. No really it’s astonishing just how much sound these things block. Once you’ve secured them in your ear canal, you’ll be transported to a world of total silence. The choice of three differently sized memory foam buds means you can get a fit that suits you. But they go in easily, naturally reaching a point where they won’t travel any further, and the groove round the end of the metal means you can quickly pull them out from their hiding place. The first time you place the Isolate buds into your ear, your initial worry is that you’ll end up pushing them so far you’ll have to make a mildly embarrassing trip to the ER.
I’ll let the company founder, Davies Roberts, do the talking: "When you isolate a dense material in soft foam inside your ear, sound waves can't penetrate from the flexible medium of air and it becomes the perfect isolator.” Unlike a traditional foam earplug, which can only absorb so much sound and which struggle to attenuate the lower frequencies, the Isolate uses a combination of solid metal and foam to completely, for want of a better word, isolate you from the sound. Instead they rely on good old sound isolation principles. These plugs eschew the connected frills of the Here One and their noise-canceling electronics on paper they don’t even sound as hi-tech as the Auritech Biker earplugs, what with their ceramic filter.
And built to last: aluminum for the standard Isolate, and titanium for the Isolate Pro. That’s where the Flare Audio Isolate earplugs step in, looking, might I say, rather suave. We’re talking training aids that motivate you while you run and – this is where it gets really interesting – earbuds designed to enhance your hearing, like the Here One.īut unless you’ve got $300 to burn, and the patience of a saint - Here One are pre-order only at the moment, and being a fruition of a Kickstarter campaign, they may not even happen - you’re probably, like me, looking for an easier option. While all this stuff is nice, albeit unnecessary (except maybe the porn), the thing that’s making waves in the tech industry right now is ‘hearables’ like wearables (think Apple Watch) without the wrist, these stick in your ears instead. Who knows? Whatever the reason, I spend a lot of time obsessing over hearing-related products, and thanks to my other pastime - working in the tech industry - I’m constantly poring over the latest gadgets that promise a better life, such as VR porn and jet-powered rollerskates (obviously not at the same time, though). Perhaps I’ve got the hearing of a bat? Maybe my windscreen is rubbish, or it could be my helmet that’s letting me down. I’ve tried them, and sure, while these bad boys boast a rather plentiful -33DB of noise reduction (one of the highest rated around), I’ve found they’re only really suitable for short distances on longer journeys the wind noise inside your helmet is like standing in the eye of a hurricane. Yes I know, stop with the silly obsessing and just get yourself some simple throwaway foam ones, such as the likes of the Howard Leight Max plug.