Should I Be Wearing Earplugs Outside the House?

Not sure if I need to wear earplugs everyday.

Many thanks.

Sarah

 

Welcome to the forum. It all depends on how stable your ears are. If you are still having trouble with sensitive ears when more loud noises can cause spikes or ear fullness, then yes you need to protect as much as possible. If your ears are stable and T is managable, then perhaps protect only for loud venues and keep the plugs off for normal ambient sounds of the environment you are in. That will help the ears to harden to everyday noises. Over protection can lead to sound sensitivity. So use prudence and only you know your ears the best. Take care. God bless.

 

You should ask a professional about it: it depends on many aspects of your hearing.

 

It’s a very broad question and it really depends on what you are doing outside the house? And is the area where you live inherently noisy? If the answer is no to the second question and you’re not going to be using any noisy machinery or power tools, or something along those lines, then I’d say the answer is no. Your ears are not designed to be continually blocked off. If there is no immediate risk then I see no reason to plug up your ears.

You can’t go wrong with professional advice as Greg has pointed out.

 

It is a good idea to protect your ears. Over protecting can possibly lead to fear, paranoia, OCDs and even hyperacusis. You make your own choices, I just shared my view

 

In other words, don’t just plug your ears for the sake of it.

 

The answer is a definite no. Earplugs and other forms of hearing protection used correctly can be very helpful. Overuse or used when not really necessary can cause many problems. Please click on the links below and read my posts.

All the best
Michael

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/hyperacusis-as-i-see-it.19174/

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/the-complexities-of-tinnitus-and-hyperacusis.25733/

 

If you are walking along side a road where there are trucks and motorcycles, then you might consider wearing earplugs.

If you are at a place where doors are being slammed often, you will want to wear earplugs. I am often happy about wearing earplugs inside of supermarkets and big stores.

But if you are walking in a park, it ought to be ok to not wear any ear protection.

Wear earplugs for a week, note whether or not there are noises that make you happy about wearing earplugs, and continue wearing earplugs at that place where you encountered those noises, and stop wearing earplugs at all other places (but have muffs handy, in case a fire alarm goes off).

 

In the next few weeks I will have to go outside. I wanted to revive a thread like this to ask how people approach wearing protection while going outside in the city. Places like offices, malls, banks, the usual.

I for one thought using foam plugs for commuting and musician plugs in the buildings where I need to communicate with people.

What do you guys think?

 

I have only used foam earplugs, so I can only speak to their use. Musician's earplugs are something I am considering investing in though.

As long as people are talking in a normal tone of voice, you can generally hear them if you are close enough. The earplugs do well to block out all of the noises you might encounter say if you're in a supermarket.

Unfortunately, I generally dislike wearing them as when you have less external stimulus, the phantom noise gets louder. If you intend to visit loud places, however, you should protect your ears.

 

I've been wearing foam plugs for the last few months and the custom ear molds for about a month. The custom ear molds are harder to put in the ear, so it's not as convenient. There are still times when I place them in and I wonder if they are sitting correctly. They also have interchangeable filters. I placed the musician filter in the molds before I went out last week and there was a loud sound in proximity to me on two occasions. I was glad I had them in, but wondered if the protection was adequate.

You get used to wearing both types of ear protection over time. Prior to my acoustic trauma, I had never worn ear plugs, shame I know. Now, I wear them any time I leave the house as I'm just a few months in and I've had several incidents of loud noise without any warning.

I do think if I were to go to a concert or movie, neither one would be adequate for protection for extremely loud sounds. I would look into an ear muff. These are all my non professional observations acquired over the last few months to protect myself. I have asked a lot of questions. Two out of three doctors never mentioned the need to wear ear protection. The audiologist who made my ear molds did not know the level of protection from the custom molds (my pet peeve in the world of professionals, know your product!).

Best to you!
twa

 

I don't wear earplugs anytime I leave the house. I do wear them with loud sound exposure is expected, but that is sometimes hard to predict.