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Comment by LeifCarrotson | Hacker News Reader

Lowering the volume can help with the SNR, because neither the signal, the noise, nor the lowering effect caused by earplugs are consistent with respect to frequency. Highly objectionable, harsh 4-8 kHz noise that might echo around a concrete and steel venue is blocked well by good earplugs, while low-frequency 100-400 Hz speech is ineffectively blocked.

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I wonder if anyone has made a set of earplugs that specifically target attenuation so that primary speech frequencies are less affected. I know foamies roll off HF aggressively (looks like 2k is the knee point[1])

My issue with foam earplugs is that they're too good at attenuating. I end up wearing them partially inserted, which is ok as long as you're staying still. If you are at a concert, or you're eating, or you have long hair, you'll disturb them.

[1]: https://www.offshorenorge.no/globalassets/dokumenter/drift/s...

Do you have a good earplug recommendation?

I like these best for low cost plugs. Howard Leight LL-1 Laser LiteUncorded Foam Earplugs Box, 200 Pair https://a.co/d/3REDT7l

Ha! I bought the same box literally a month ago, this listing ships Prime and costs a little less: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007XJOLG

Those are great for the workshop, but they're flourescent green and pink. That makes it easy to see when someone's wearing them, which is good in a shop but usually bad in social settings.

You could apply makeup to them. I mainly use them for sleep or in office when I want to focus so the colour helps in the office.

I have some of these https://www.loopearplugs.com/

They're super comfortable and they don't look weird like the neon yellow foam ones :) Before I always disliked wearing earplugs when I have to at concerts, but the ones from Loop I just wear anywhere I like that is too loud

Loops are great as a sibling comment mentioned but I had to have very loud dehumidifiers in my house all weekend; I've been walking around with my Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3s in transparency mode (i.e. uses microphones to play sound from the outside into the headphone), and it's been amazing. It cut the audio to a maximum level and let me discern conversations more easily than folks not wearing anything.

I like Etymotic (https://www.etymotic.com). The design lowers the decibels without affecting the sound too much. I used to play in a band with a drummer who always wore their high-end plugs which you have to have molded to your ear canals, but they also make cheaper standardized ones that do a good job.

The cheap etymotic plugs are great value. I always have a pair on my keyring. The advantage over foam plugs is that the attenuation is more linear so you don’t feel so weird wearing them.

I go to live music a lot so I invested in some custom molded earplugs from 1of1custom.com

On the cheap, Earasers. They're small enough that they're almost invisible, and they're designed to attenuate roughly evenly across the audible spectrum. That makes them great for concerts, but other folks here claim that the top-heavy attentuation profile of non-music specific earplugs is actually better for speech.

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