Turns out they sell special reusable earplugs for musicians that decrease volume without muffling sound as much as regular earplugs. They’re real handy to have as a purse item. Mine saved me from having a meltdown at a restaurant composed of 0% sound-absorbing materials like a month ago.
the off-the-shelf etymotic earplugs are good at evenly reducing sound, but in my experience & in some friend’s experience kinda uncomfortable for sustained use; i used to try to wear them for loud music events but would always take them out after a while.
loop earplugs look nice (!?) and also are comfortable! you have to rotate them until they’re comfortable, and then they’re pretty much unnoticeable. i wore them for 8 hours at a loud music event two weeks ago. my voice sounded a little weird in my head at normal volume, but i got used to it after a bit. i’ve also worn them while exercising, which wasn’t amazing but sucked less than disposable earplugs.
my partner has custom-molded earplugs, which they say are 1) very comfortable and 2) don’t make your voice sound as weird in your head as shittier earplugs. they also have replaceable filters, so you can swap them from “just a little quieter” to “someone is shouting directly in my ear from 3 inches away and I can’t hear it” (which are the filters they accidentally had in at the same loud music event… they had to use their backup earplugs, also loops).
for home use (blender, vacuum, fire alarm, etc), i have a couple of sets of children’s earmuffs
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#holy shit #portable? sound blocking?? that isn’t *itself* sensory hell??? #I need to look into this #(I wonder if I’d be able to sleep in them without having nightmares‚ or if that’s just inherent to the concept) #((they were false-awakening nightmares in which I took out the earplugs and found that my ears were still clogged)) #((I was prone to ear clogs as a child‚ and they *were* often triggered by sticking something else in my ear‚ and)) #((I was always worried that one day they would happen to occur in both ears at the same time and I’d end up nearly deaf for ~3 weeks)) #((this did not ever actually happen‚ but it very plausibly could have)) #((and my subconscious is–as of 2015‚ anyway–not over this)) #(((which is honestly valid of it))) #the more you know #recs #transhumanism #this post was queued because my to-reblog list is too long and I didn’t want to dump it on you all at once
Brinens and Things 