Ear Protection

I got a pair of theses: and I'm happy with them, comfy and pretty natural sounding. I've got the white one first, but they were way too big for comfort so I ordered the blue ones and they were ok. Then I lost one, so I had to order another pair (I ordered two, because I'll most likely loose them again). Good thing those things are cheap.

Try a site with lots of links. I like the ones that look like a fat T with a smooth outside edge for general hearing protection (as opposed to the generic sponge cylinder). Never have gotten custom molds with relatively flat attenuation, but they would have come in handy many times.

I settled on the ER-20 Ety-Plugs (the white ones) based on what I'd heard about the flat response. As one of those "things for your brain to do while you're watching TV" , one night I looked up the attenuation data for a couple of low-end earplugs & came up with the attached graph. I haven't ever had a custom set made, but some of those who have say they're worth it. Anyway, here's what I wound up with. The curves are: Hearos High Fidelity, Hearos Rock-n-Roll, Hearos Extreme Protection, Hearos Ultra-Soft, and Etymotic ER-20s. Higher on the graph means more attenuation (quieter). The horizontal axis is frequency.

I use the EAR-20s at rock concerts...At least for the opening acts... I think I would prefer about 10db reduction, because 20 kinda takes some of the edge off most performances. My ears only have to last as long as I do anyway.

Very Interesting :) -Alxi-

My friend once told me to go to an audiologist and have some made. But, I didn't have the money - they're expensive, but the custom fit ones are incredible - like you're not even wearing them (that's the one thing that drives me nuts about plugs is that they're so uncomfirtable after a while, and they block too much).

for the people in germany or arround germany: These guys are really good. They made me some custom made earplugs and a lot of friends wear them as well. Superb service and you get a good advice before you buy anything...

Considering I've lost my first pair or decent ear protection on my very first practice session, an investment like this would be wasted on me. That said, is a custom fitted pair really worth the incredibly large cash outlay required, even given that one wouldn't ultimately lose them?

For me, custom is the only way to go. I use Elacin (I think they're also known as Etymotic?) with 25dB filters. I've also got filters for 15dB but I've never actually used them.. with the flat frequency response I've been wanting to play it safe all along. The clarity compared to others is tremendous.. Nothing is even in the same ballpark with custom earplugs! Another factor is comfort. I went through all the cheap plugs and either it's my ear canal or something, but all of the plugs start to either hurt or fall off (foam ones are unusable really). If I take the plugs off and put them back in, it seems to put a strain on the skin of my ears and they become irritated. Mind you, apart from tracking, mixing and going to gigs I've also been playing in bands for maybe over 8 years. In rehearsals I can just basically leave my Elacins on, because of the flat response and the fact that they're hollow inside I can talk normally, it doesn't feel like there's something blocking my ears at all. The initial investment is a hit worth something like 150-180 euro (I don't remember), but the durability promised by the factory is four years. If you divide the sum with 4 * 365 they're really cheap as tap water. Mine are going for 6 years now, I guess it depends on how much your ear canal changes. And you only have to buy one set of filters.

my 2 cents