musician’s (or concert goer’s) ear plugs
I’ve been going to a good number of concerts for a while now. My dad was always big into hearing protection, so I used ear plugs for years, until I felt that they were ruining the music. Then I decided I needed to start using ear plugs again after a few particularly loud concerts left my ears ringing until the next day. Here’s a quick overview of some ear plugs.
Any hearing protecting is better than none, but some forms are better than others.
Wetted paper towels I’ve used this when I forgot to bring ear plugs to concerts when I was younger. Probably not that good for your ears and definitely not that good for the music. I’d recommend against this method.
Flents Quiet! Please Foam Ear Plugs These are the sort you find at Walgreens. They’re meant for blocking out snoring and are pretty horrible for concerts, blocking out a lot of high frequencies. I’d recommend against these.
Howard Leight Max UF Foam These are the industrial sort of ear plugs, florescent orange with a string attaching the two, that you see in a factory or a machine shop. Great for preserving your ears but horrible for concerts, blockout out the high frequencies quite a bit. They’re dirt cheap, but I’d still recommend against them.
Etymotic Research ER-20 Hi Fi I’ve been using these pretty regularly for a year or so. They are fairly comfortable to wear (though my ears will feel weird/ hurt a little if I wear them for many hours). They are pretty good at maintaining the quality of the music, though I do notice some attenuation of the very high frequencies (like the ringing of a crash cymbal). They come in a convenient and fairly small carrying case. I like them and I’d recommend them. They seem similar (or possibly the same, just a different branding) to the ones insound is selling.
Alpine MusicSafe I tried these for the first time at last Friday’s St. Vincent concert. They were comfortable (possibly more so than the ER-20s, even). I found the music quality good, though possibly slightly worse than the ER-20s. They come in a carrying case that’s probably slightly too big. The one thing I didn’t like is that they sit very much inside of your ear (a good thing) but that requires a special tube tool (included, of course) to insert the plugs. It’s sort of a pain. I’d still recommend them, though I think I’d recommend the ER-20s more.
Etymotic Research custom I’ve never tried these as they are ~$200 and fit only the person they’re made for, but I imagine these are about the best you can get..
I’ve got the Etymotic custom ones with all three attenuator buttons (my mom’s a hearing specialist, lucky me). They are quite comfortable and I haven’t really noticed any preferential blockage of certain frequencies. Only problem is I’ve almost lost a button a few times because they’re really small and quite hard to juggle when you have the actual earplugs and either a digital SLR camera or a drink in one hand. Pricey, yes, but probably worth it, because as long as you don’t lose them they’ll last you many a show.
Whoa, crazy useful. I’m a long-time user of the wet paper towel, frankly, but only because I’ve always been too lazy to buy some better ones. Now I know. :)
[...] Just to note, I’ve always been very careful about the volume of my music on earphones and other people who try my headphones often think I listen to music too softly. I wear ear plugs at concerts, even advocating them publicly. If there’s one probable culprit here it’s listening to music on the bus and/ or while walking along streets here. Both are quite noisy and can encourage a louder-than-healthy volume on ear buds. [...]
[...] to spend hundreds of dollars on custom ear plugs to have a decent listening experience; I’ve made some recommendations before. Also, lots of people listen to music on their ipods too loudly (and don’t seem to care). Be [...]