Custom molded earplugs
- Thread starter Williamb
- Start date
LarryDScott
Site $$ Sponsor
I had a set made by my Hearig aid supplier, The cost is a little high at $50.00. If you can ever go to a big Trap shoot where they have vendors, there will usually be someone there making plugs from 25-35 per set. Larry
LarryDScott
Site $$ Sponsor
Be very leary of plugs that advertise shut down, I wore the sonic brand for years, trap shooting, dove and duck hunting, thinking I was doing a good thing. How WRONG I was. I have a terrible hearing loss, I'm wearing $5,000.00 aids and still cant understand a lot of speach. Settle for nothing less than well made solid plugs. When Rifle shooting I wear the plugs in addition to muffs. You only loose your hearing once.
There are a lot of mis-conceptions about hearing protection.
I retired from a company that did research and product development for the ear and have an engineering degree and took the audiology masters program at a local university as well as being a licensed hearing aid dispenser.
I am an avid motorcycle rider, sport-touring and off-road so I became the company expert on hearing protection in a sport environment.
First. The best and cheapest protection is the old "yellow foamie." But, there is a serious caveat, most folks do not insert them properly! To be in properly, you must be afraid you won't be able to get them out!!! But, you will. I see folks all the time with yellow foamies laid sideways in the concha of the ear, no protection at all! If inserted correctly, that is rolled up to a tiny rod and quickly inserted as far into the ear canal as you can and hold it in with a finger tip till it expands, yellow foamies yield approximately 40 dB of sound reduction. This is limited by bone conduction and what you hear does not come through the ear plug but through your mastoid bone. Muffs have a hard time doing this good! The NRR number you see on the package is forced on the manufacturer by the government to indicate how a poorly inserted device will work on average, nor a properly inserted device.
Second. A more convenient plug is a custom plug made by a local hearing aid dispenser. Maybe you can get cheap custom plugs at the motorcycle show, the car race or the sportsmans show, but they are formed in place plugs that usually do not fit really good. Go to a hearing aid dispenser that is trained and very experienced in taking impressions of ear canals. The dispenser will take a deep impression which will make the plug extend down to the bony region which will reduce the occlusion effect which makes your own voice sound like you are talking into a 55 gallon drum! cheap formed in place show plugs do not extend far enough into the ear canal to eliminate occlusion effect. The $50 or so you pay the dispenser is cheap when you consider the improved comfort and noise reduction. It never ceases to amaze me that people will pay outlandish prices for a gadget that will make their gun shoot better, but balk at $50-$100 for effective ear plugs that WILL protect their hearing
I retired from a company that did research and product development for the ear and have an engineering degree and took the audiology masters program at a local university as well as being a licensed hearing aid dispenser.
I am an avid motorcycle rider, sport-touring and off-road so I became the company expert on hearing protection in a sport environment.
First. The best and cheapest protection is the old "yellow foamie." But, there is a serious caveat, most folks do not insert them properly! To be in properly, you must be afraid you won't be able to get them out!!! But, you will. I see folks all the time with yellow foamies laid sideways in the concha of the ear, no protection at all! If inserted correctly, that is rolled up to a tiny rod and quickly inserted as far into the ear canal as you can and hold it in with a finger tip till it expands, yellow foamies yield approximately 40 dB of sound reduction. This is limited by bone conduction and what you hear does not come through the ear plug but through your mastoid bone. Muffs have a hard time doing this good! The NRR number you see on the package is forced on the manufacturer by the government to indicate how a poorly inserted device will work on average, nor a properly inserted device.
Second. A more convenient plug is a custom plug made by a local hearing aid dispenser. Maybe you can get cheap custom plugs at the motorcycle show, the car race or the sportsmans show, but they are formed in place plugs that usually do not fit really good. Go to a hearing aid dispenser that is trained and very experienced in taking impressions of ear canals. The dispenser will take a deep impression which will make the plug extend down to the bony region which will reduce the occlusion effect which makes your own voice sound like you are talking into a 55 gallon drum! cheap formed in place show plugs do not extend far enough into the ear canal to eliminate occlusion effect. The $50 or so you pay the dispenser is cheap when you consider the improved comfort and noise reduction. It never ceases to amaze me that people will pay outlandish prices for a gadget that will make their gun shoot better, but balk at $50-$100 for effective ear plugs that WILL protect their hearing
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