Ride with gears most of the time, changes with the risk I am comfortable taking. The most protective gear often is not the comfiest.

The very basic full gear only protect you from jatuh bodoh. No sliding on the tramac it will be destroyed in 1 second. These are your daily jacket, glove boot etc

If you want the best protection full leather racing setup is the best. You can get away with sliding up to 5 second on the road. But those are stiff movement restricting and super hot in our weather. I only use those when I intend to ride aggressively at karak or kkic. For touring duty comfy mesh jacket with mesh pants is my choice. Lighter glove not gauntlet type. High top leather riding boot instead of hard racing boot so I can stretch my legs.

Foam plugs mute almost everything. I traded mine for concert/musician earplug. It has noise filter. Doesn't block everything cuts most bass and some highs. For me I felt I can hear horns better than foam plugs. Still compared to no earplug sound will felt muted.