Trying Every Earplug

[wintersilence]

I really want to try to stop avoiding social events, movies, etc., and have tried a half dozen ear plugs, all ones that offer maximum protection. These seemed to have protected me at a loud festival, but I still left due to not being able to hear anyone. I have searched this forum a lot and keep seeing that others are using musician ear plugs and I want to order a pair; but I'm hesitant the protection will not be enough.

My T and H are extremely bad and I am avoiding all social events. I'm trying to help myself with my depression by going out, but the anxiety that I will make the T worse, even at a movie, if I don't have the right type of ear plug, seems to risky to try since I can not handle it getting even a hair worse at this point.

I would just be happy going to a movie, as that seems to be in general not as constantly loud as live music, which I am probably going to just avoid. I am hoping I could use a ear plug that would allow me to enjoy the movie and feel my ears are safe.

Please help me out with your experiences with musician type ear plugs, as I'm probably going to order what is recommended by you guys. Thanks so much.

 

[Ed209]

Hi Winter, it's very rare that volumes at social events go above 105db. The only things that really do are rock concerts and very very loud clubs. About 90 percent of all other social events are below this threshold. With this in mind you don't really need as much protection as you think. For an average loud night out you'd be looking at 95-100db; a 27db musicians plug would drop that to 73db which is well within the safe range. In fact I'd consider 85 in the safe range as long as you're not exposed to it for hours at a time (like 8 hours ish).

I can personally vouch for ACS as I own a pair and they actually do a 26db and 27db high filter set. Other top brands include Etymotic/Elacin and Starkey.

As far as performance goes they are far more comfortable then the foam and standard filter ones. With my ACS 26db set I can still hear people speak, they just drop the volume but the clarity and occlusion is far superior.

 

[Ed209]

I thought I'd better add that you can also buy a cap that completely seals the plugs. This gives you the highest amount of protection possible as it completely seals your ear canal. I've got the caps for my plugs but haven't tried them yet so can't say what it sounds like, but I'm guessing it would be similar to the foam ones, just more comfortable.

Sealing your ear canal reduces noise by approximately 30db.