Disclaimer/background. I'm no longer a spring chicken and have been playing in music groups since I was a kid. I've played in rock bands, concert bands, musical theater, symphony orchestra... And though I am a life-long musician I made my living as a professional photographer for many years photographing events, weddings/parties, etc. I started wearing hearing protection a couple years too late (5 years in while I was still young). I issued plugs for all my staff and those under 21 were REQUIRED to wear them on the job. I wish I'd started plugging as a kid. Luckily I don't have tinitus, but I do have enough hearing loss that in rooms with ambient noise conversations are a frustrating struggle, especially with mid-range voices.
Though a lot of people like the Etymotic plugs, I had a pair but they did nothing for me more than the foam at 6x the cost. Your ear will attenuate to the tone no matter which plugs you use so it becomes more about how much protection they give. All the plugs are usually rated, so go by that. I prefer either the foam kind because they are discreet, but these days the volume that some groups push to gets to
stupid levels that the in-ear type only help so much but the volume level still hurts. I'm seriously thinking, fashion be damned, of going to a more serious setup, modifying a set of Peltors with volume controlled in-ear monitors just so I can bring the volume level down enough the hear and actually enjoy the music. [Do you guys (and your audiences) really LIKE playing stupid loud?] Man... Sometimes I go to these places, they turn down the lights, pump up the music and I feel like the love child of Hellen Keller and Tommy (The Who). I digress...
Here's a photo of what I'm thinking about modifying? They'll protect your hearing when a .357 mag goes off next to you, so should do the job. Any thoughts?
