Musician's Earplugs are custom-fitted hearing protection devices that are designed to reduce sound levels at all frequencies evenly. That is, they are "flat-frequency" attenuators. If made well, they preserve the natural resonance of sound in a person's unplugged ear canal, so the music sounds as crisp and clean as unplugged, but greatly reduces risk for hearing loss.
They sound much better than foam earplugs that you can buy over-the-counter in a drug store, which over-protect, and muffle high-pitch sounds more than low-pitch sounds (give a listen to the difference below).
Not all Musician's Earplugs are made the same way... if the ear canal is not long enough, or the opening is too small, or there is a leak between the ear canal and the earplug, the sound can be very "muddy" and worse than using a foam earplug (give a listen below to a poorly-fitted ER-15).
Musician's Earplugs come in three different levels of sound reduction: 9 decibels (ER-9), 15 decibels (ER-15), and 25 decibels (ER-25). Most exposures warrant fitting with an ER-15, but your audiologist can help you determine which is right for you. You can also be fitted with different levels of sound reduction, depending on the need.
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