Title says most of it but to be more specific I am seeking earplugs that lower the volume of noise when in loud places. I still want to be able to hear (music or someone talking to me), just lower the volume.
I know there are cheap, foam earplugs but those muffle noise and while they help some I am not fond of them. Some distant memory tells me that musicians use some kind of “better” earplug which allows them to hear the music they are playing but not go deaf if it is very loud night-after-night.
Of course I did a Google search but it was too difficult to discern what was real advice and what was marketing hype.
For the sake of this thread cost is no object. I’ll decide later if the cost is worth it.
I have used Etymotic ER20s for many years now. There are a lot of musician’s earplugs that you can try. I like these because they sit deep in your ears and have a central canal and you don’t get the occlusion effect when speaking with them in that you get with some of them.
I also have used Etymotic ER20 earplugs for many years, at several hundred concerts. They are much better than foam, which makes the music sound muddy by reducing high frequencies more than low frequencies. I wish I’d started using them earlier in my life, as I attribute most of my hearing loss to stupidly attending loud concerts without hearing protection.
You can also get custom-fitted earplugs that are molded to exactly fit in your ear canal. A friend of mine uses those, but I have no personal experience with them. Of course they are much more expensive than the Etymotics.
I typically use banded earplugs. (They have a band that goes under your chin or behind your head.) There are many brands available on Amazon and I prefer the rubber ones instead of foam ones. The advantage I find is that I can easily adjust them to let in more or less sound as needed. Plus, fit is not nearly as important as with earplugs that must be retained within my ear. They are dirt cheap (< $4 a pair) and pretty much disposable. I take a set to a concert, bend them to an appropriate fit, and then toss them on my way out.
FWIW I’ve found ‘Rockets’ earplugs work very well for me. They’re like a tapered fir-tree arrangement made of rubber and with a thin cord of about 18 inches, so you can drape them around your neck when not in use. Wet them a bit with water and fiddle about to get a good seal.
I can hear what I need to while the harsh sounds are muted or filtered out. I can sleep with them in too, without feeling as though I’ve had a potato lodged in my ear canal.
I use these for loud venues and for when playing with my band. The nice thing is there are two attenuation levels. For my ear facing our extremely loud drummer, I use max attenuation. For the other ear, the lesser which allows me to hear my guitarists better.
You might look into Loop earplugs. I’ve never used them at a concert but they give options for filtering out noise so you can still hear, and there are some marketed for concerts. They are really good for noisy restaurants. And noisy children.
They hang around your neck and magnet together which is nice, and also they come with several different sizes of plug.
I use Flare Audio earplugs - an earlier version than they now sell. I’ve used them for years. I’ve got tinnitus so they go everywhere with me, I can just pop them in whenever the environment gets too noisy. I bought one of the capsules to carry them in, which you can attach to a key ring or purse strap.
I have the Eargasm earplugs which look similar. We used them at The Odyssey and a few concerts/events and they work quite well for just “turning it down a bit” without things sounding muffled or lost. I think I actually mentioned them in a semi-recent thread of products you endorse.