I don't know where to put this thread, the MD can move it if he wishes.
We all love music and hearing our lovely music through our favorite speakers.
We need to protect our hearing if we are to enjoy that sound for many years.
I live in a very noisy environment, the people here just love to make noise. And think nothing of it.
Our little church building has terrible reverberant acoustics, and the band likes to play loud, the drum kit has no cage around it, and everyone uses a microphone and SHOUTS into it.
My wife and daughter are embarrassed when I put my fingers into my ears to protect them from particularly loud sounds. And this is just church. Other venues like parties where they break out the karaoke, it is HORRIBLE!!!! Funerals, don't get me started.
So, when I got ear molds made to make my custom in ear monitors, the company that made them for me, EARTECH Music had my ear molds when finished making my ciems, and I got to thinking, they make ear plugs too. And they already have my molds.
So I contacted them again, www.eartechmusic.com/musicians-ear-plugs/
They make earplugs for musicians for $150 that reduce the noise 15dB. Or they can be a solid plug, reducing nearly all sound. 15dB is a lot. They were able to make these for me and I just rec'd them in the mail.
I have not tried them out at church yet, but we went to our village sports day yesterday and I wore them. My wife took a pic and was soooo happy I was wearing them! When a loud noise hurts my ears I tend to duck my head, and she said I never did that all day!!!
The speakers there were blaring, my mother-in-law was singing in a contest, you never heard such catterwalling in your life!!!! We were there to cheer her on and I was happy as a clam. I could hear, yes, it was horrible but that must be paying for some sins in my life, but it was NOT harmful sound!!!!
I have not put in the solid plugs to try them yet, I think it is good to be able to hear what is said to you and be aware of your surroundings, auditory clues and all. I carried on normal conversations and was aware to not speak too loudly myself.
These or similar are highly recommended if you are around noisy places like I am.
God Bless,
Wayne

I live in Colorado, and have been to many concerts at Red Rocks ampitheater. It's a great venue, and quite commonly you'll see people wearing earplugs once the music starts.

I have a pair of passive noise-canceling in-ears (basically in ears that seal exptremely well) that I always wear on airplane flights. They are excellent at cutting out the massive noise pollution, so I can listen to my music/movies w/o cranking the volume.

Some IEM companies make earplugs as well; earsonics and etymotic come to mind.

great post! thank you for sharing it.
After considering these issues, I also bought earplugs from Reecoupons .
You know i strongly believes in "Prevention is better than cure" thats why i am using these instead of start using after hearing loss etc.

Sleeping with ear plugs?
How many of you do it? I hate them but am suffering sleep deprivation as a result of my neighbours. Can you hear the alarm clock? Terrified of sleeping in. Also, which kind are the best, where do you get them and how much do they cost?

Hi Wayne,

Although I have not yet found the need for earplugs, I am using over-the-ears noise reducing ear cups when I am running any sort of power tool for an extended period (especially my lawn equipment). The advertised level of sound reduction is 20 db. These cups are readily available at home improvement stores and are not expensive. When wearing them, I ado have to pay more attention to my surroundings when I am cutting grass near the street, etc.

Happy Listening,

Art

The trick will be finding something that you will be able to sleep with. When I travel I keep foam earplugs with at all times as you never know what you might run into at hotels. For me, the expanding foam work well, you roll them in your fingers and pop'm in, when you let them go they expand out creating a nice "fit". I buy a small can of them at CVS that have 30 or so pair and they're not expensive.

Good luck.