The best earplugs: for swimming, concerts, sleep
Earplugs are different. Some can help you fall asleep and escape all the outside noise, while others will cut out the frequencies that might harm your ears at a concert or a music festival. In this article, we'll explain why you need a pair of earplugs and which one you should choose to stay safe. After all, we only get one pair of ears.
Why and when do you need to use earplugs?
The enormous amount of noise that surrounds us on a daily basis is bad for our health, especially our hearing. According to The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, the comfort level of noise for our hearing is around 70dB, which is the level of a loud group conversation. Whereas 85 dB can be quite damaging if you listen to it for more than 8 hours, and most of the concerts and movies in movie theaters pump out about 100 dB.
According to The National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, around 10 percent of the US adult population has experienced tinnitus, a health condition related to hearing loss, ringing, buzzing, and hissing sounds inside the head of the patient. Tinnitus is often caused by excessive exposure to loud sounds, such as music playing in headphones, concerts, and street noise.
We undoubtedly need a pair of earplugs if we go to a music concert, but these little buddies can also be helpful for falling asleep or training in the swimming pool.
What are the best earplugs for swimming?
If you don't want to get a swimmer's ear, or, in other words, external otitis, an ear condition that is characterized by redness, itchiness, swelling, irritation, or infection, think about getting a pair of earplugs for swimming. This disease can be caused by water stuck in the ear canal and germs reproducing there. The noise cancellation in the bustling swimming pool is another great feature of swimming earplugs.
Take a look at Bollsen Watersafe + earplugs. Made from medical silicone, they fill the ear canal in a comfortable way, preventing water from getting in, and adapting to the size of the canal. They filter noisy sounds and are reusable 100 times. You can buy them online for $30.
Otherwise, there are plenty of alternative options: the futuristic SurfEars 3.0 for $50 or the eco-friendly Happy Ears Ocean Plastics Discovery Pack for $35.
What are the best earplugs for concerts?
To protect your hearing during a music festival, it's best to use a good pair of earplugs that will lower the noise but at the same time won't have a detrimental effect on how the music sounds. These two features can be found in Etymotic Research ER20XS earplugs. They reduce the volume by 20 decibels and maintain clarity across the frequency range. You can buy them at Amazon for $23.
Other options can be NPR Music x Earpeace Pro ($40) which can pull a solid 13 decibels from noisy signals and come with a handy aluminum case, or a pair of Vibes High Fidelity Earplugs ($29) that lower the noise by 22 decibels and come in 3 different sizes.
What are the best earplugs for sleep?
It can be hard to fall asleep in a buzzing city. That's why sleeping earplugs are extremely useful for people living in big cities. If you have trouble falling asleep because of garbage trucks, people shouting outside, and road traffic, try sleeping earplugs. Loop Quiet earplugs can lower the noise by 27 decibels, are made of soft silicone, and are very comfortable, so once you put them in, you almost don't feel them. They come in 6 different colors, with a cute case, and you can easily wash them. You can buy Loop Quiet earplugs online for $25.
A more advanced option can be a pair of Bose SleepBuds 2. They don't only block disruptive sounds but also cover them with noise-masking soundtracks, like rainfall on a tent and other soundscapes. You can use them as sleeping earplugs and basic earbuds, so it's a 2-in-1 solution. You can buy them online for $250.