No, not earmuffs....
I did all the usual sealing, adding insulation to the doghouse, etc. - but was still unhappy with the noise level- both engine and road - of my 2015 Vegas. So it was time for more radical warfare.....
From my earlier GM new vehicle development experience, I knew that " constrained layer damping" material, like Dynamat, boom mat, etc. was very effective at damping vibrating panels, but not as effective for airborne noise. Since most of our dash is plywood- which does not vibrate , I figured the next step was an airborne noise treatment, and chose a " mass loaded vinyl" as used in soundproofed recording studios and high end car stereo systems. The most common is about 1/8 inch thick, and is available numerous places on-line. Beware of shipping- at 1 lb per square foot, get a place with free shipping.....
Since this would go between the plywood dash structure and the dash covers- it required taking apart the whole dash- not an easy task. The MLV will then go between the structure and cover. As I pulled apart the dash, I discovered a nasty surprise: where the front dash attached to the body, the two screws holding the dash in place had pulled out, or never been fully tightened- leaving a 1" gap along the front. Explains a LOT of my noise issue. No way of knowing how common this is - and I know one other vehicle I saw taken apart had about 8 screws across the front . Later factory fix? Who knows.... In my sealing program I had sealed as well as I could across the front, but sure there were open areas.
Here is a before picture:
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