Earplugs for Subway?

[Kerri]

Hello everyone! I have a question about wearing earplugs on the subway (I live in NY). I have a pair of Alpine musicians ear plugs (http://www.musiciansfriend.com/accessories/alpine-hearing-protection-dual-attenuator-earplugs). I wear them to concerts and other loud events and they work really well. I also wear them on my daily commute to work to protect my ears from the obnoxiously loud noise in the subway. I've noticed they work well and I like that I can still hear regular noise around me while the roar of the train is reduced. My only concern is that muscian's ear plugs do not offer the best protection for the subway. Does anyone wear earplugs in the subway? If so, what kind do you use? I'm not really looking to spend $200 on custom made earplugs at the audiologist if something I can buy online works great. Any advice is appreciated! Thanks.

 

[walkthroughwalls]

I've only been to NYC once and that was quite a while ago, and before I got tinnitus. I don't remember the subway being extremely loud, those Alpine plugs should be good enough. These plugs were also my rehearsal/concert plugs for years and served me well.

Later on I 'upgraded' to custom plugs. They're better for music, much easier to put in and take out and actually cheaper because I was using the Alpine plugs so much I'd wear them out in a couple of months. I also wear my custom plugs on buses now, even though I'm not completely sure if I should. One of my audiologists said that avoiding all 'loud but not too loud'-sounds could cause H and possibly (but this is bleeding edge-science) slow down the recovery of the nerves attached to the hair cells.

If you want more dB reduction, look into plugs without a filter. Custom ones are about €100 over here and are sold as plugs for swimming. The disposable foam ones won't last long and may eventually be more expensive. They also take a minute to put in. There's probably a type of plug that sits somewhere in between these two, which may suit you well.

 

[Dawn Whinetaker]

I've ridden the subway before and there are moments where it can get kind of loud- with that being said, I have to agree with the last poster that your ear plugs you have currently should work well. If they don't- have you tried noise cancelling headphones? They're relatively affordable now-a-days, and you can get ones that look like music headphones at a pretty decent price. I don't know of any specific brands, but I know that they're pretty common and I'm sure you could find a good pair on Amazon for under $50.00.