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this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2023
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Custom-made ear plugs. Even if you only wear ear plugs occasionally (I do when in a noisy hotel, or when a neighbor goes a bit too crazy), they are so worth having.
Basically you go to an audiologist and they put something kinda liquid in each of your ears to take a mold of your ear canals. A couple of weeks later, you have plastic earplugs that have the exact shape of your inner ears.
Upsides: • They work, always. I would typically use wax or silicon disposable ear plugs before that, and sometimes in the middle of the night they might move and let the sound in; those don’t. Also, foam disposable ear plugs don’t stay in my ear, don’t ask me why. • They never hurt. Since disposable ear plugs get shoved into your inner ear until they take the shape, they continuously push against the walls of your ear canals. I would often feel kinda bruised after using them for a long time. • They are crazy comfortable. Put your ear on a pillow, and you barely feel them at all. • But do they block too much sound? That’s up to you. Basically, you choose the level of noise you want to keep out, which I believe is achieved by using different kinds of plastic.
They’re not a trivial purchase (I think mine cost $150), but then you use them for decades, so it’s definitely worth it. It was a stupid purchase in my case, because I bought them on a whim out of anger against my neighbor’s party one night; but they’ve followed me everywhere since!
As for them staying in your ear, do you pull up on your earlobe when inserting normal ear plugs? I discovered this a while ago and it took in-ear stuff from being absolutely unusable to working great.
I did! I noticed it written on a box of disposable earplugs at some point, so I abided. It made things marginally better in my case, but not by much. Either I was doing it wrong, or it’s that ear canal shapes are different enough that different people have to have different solution (why on Earth can some people use foam earplugs all right, and yet they just spring out of my ears?? 😆)
I have small ear canals and can't use most ear plugs and ear buds because they just push out of my ears, and if they do manage to stay I can feel it constantly pushing outwards on my ear and it starts to hurt pretty quickly. No one else in my house has this problem. I would absolutely say ear canals are different enough that there cannot be a catch-all solution so they just have to go with average range. I'm sure if I got custom plugs it would be different, but anything off the shelf is not going to work for my baby ears.
Not for plugs, but check out bone conduction headphones for a listening alternative to over ear headphones. They just cut your ear canal out of the equation entirely.
Holy crap that is amazing! Headphones/earbuds are a big issue for me, partly since I am allowed to listen at work, but I am not allowed to have over ears, but especially since most ear buds cause great pain and inevitable eat infections for me. Thank you so much!
Update: I ordered a pair to try. Twisted my rubber arm.
Hah well, yeah, for sure for you the custom ones would make even more sense than for me, if you use earplugs enough.
thing is, i thought this was the case for me too! but pulling on the ear while inserting the plugs completely solved the issue.
That does not work for me.
Not trying to be funny, have you tried actual children’s ear plugs? Or are those too small?
I haven't tried those, didn't even consider it for some reason. Thank you.
Best of luck! Hopefully they work. Figure “big kids” plugs might fit your “tiny adult” ears!!
I'm a big kid now! 🤣
Interesting, i thought i had small ear canals until i learned about the ear pulling trick and now i can even wear bog-standard earbuds without issue.
Don't know if I'm losing my mind but I thought the inner ear was beyond the eardrum
Oh you’re probably right; I’m no specialist and I’m referring to the ear canals as “inner ear” in my post and could very well be wrong in doing so.
This post has me very intrigued
You can buy a DIY kit for ~$20. Mine work great, though I’ve never gotten professional ones so I can’t compare.
Radian on Amazon, they work like two-part epoxy. You can also make custom fit earbud covers to have noise cancelling earbuds that are super comfortable. If you get the Radian kit, put a water bottle cap sized spacer between your teeth while they cure. They will seal better.
https://www.radians.com/products/composite-radians-custom-molded-earplugs-and-accessories?hsLang=en#features
I use IEM's constantly and usually use a silicone tip, but honestly it's time to get molded. You just have to be disciplined enough not to lose them.
I lose wireless earbuds enough that I don't listen to media on the go, so I'd be scared to buy custom earplugs and lose them too.
I have a set of these designed for musicians, theres an open channel through them, and you put a special "button" at te outward end, that lowers volume without affecting sound quality. I think the company is called "Etymotic Research"
Oh my, I had no idea this was a thing, but this sounds amazing!
i'm currently waiting for a pair of custom molded titanium earplugs with interchangable filters. epoxy ones costs 180, Ti 200 € in central europe.
As a guy that had his inner ear literally scooped out, I can confirm custom ear plugs are a MUST HAVE for anyone. I use mine for swimming and places with a shit ton of dust cuz I can't get water or other stuff in my ears or it makes them really hard for the doc to clean. They also just look really cool and I managed to get a few of my friends to get some as well.
I just got a pair in Canada they were 300 bucks. My ears are so small nothing else fits. 10 out of 10 would buy again.
I had some but lost them unfortunately after a few recent moves in a few years. They had a good 20 year run at least
Can confirm they're way way better than anything not custom