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Have a look at Etymotic plugs. I've used ER20s (looks like they are called 'Ety Plugs', now) at clubs and events for years. They do what they say - drop the volume without distortion. I can have conversations while wearing them that would have been a muted mess with the more usual foam earplugs. They aren't bad for long stays in server rooms, either.

If you attend loud events with any regularity, and want to _keep_ being able to enjoy those events for years to come, protect your hearing.

Caveat - no association with the company, just a satisfied customer.

I keep a pair of them in a small metal tube on my keychain, just in case a bar is too loud. :D

Have a look at Etymotic plugs. I've used ER20s (looks like they are called 'Ety Plugs', now) at clubs and events for years. They do what they say - drop the volume without distortion. I can have conversations while wearing them that would have been a muted mess with the more usual foam earplugs. They aren't bad for long stays in server rooms, either.

If you attend loud events with any regularity, and want to _keep_ being able to enjoy those events for years to come, protect your hearing.

Caveat - no association with the company, just a satisfied customer.

Yeah, and good earplugs like these have a nearly flat frequency response which make it easier to have a conversation in loud room, unlike foam earplugs or headphones that muffle the sound in addition to attenuating it.

The best way to approach this problem is to go to audiologist and get fitted for custom earplugs. They will make a mold of your ear and send it to a company like http://www.etymotic.com/hp/erme.html. You can select the filter up to a maximum of -25dB over a much more even bandwidth than cheap earplugs. It will likely solve the problem without introducing masking noise willy-nilly.

The main design goal for most good earplugs like Etymotic's is to have a flat frequency response which means they decrease the volume level without distorting sound. That is great for music concerts, working around heavy machinery, and any other situation where you want to protect against hearing loss but still hear clearly. However, that same feature makes them horrible for blocking out voices, as they cut all sound equally so the volume difference between the voices and noise floor stays the same, and they are just as easy to hear. Noise canceling headphones are worse as they can only cancel relatively constant background noise, and can't cancel voices or percussive sounds at all.

I have used both of these in a setting like a dorm, and the net effect is to eliminate the beneficial background white (or colored) noise, while largely preserving the distracting noises. I found the foam plugs designed for shooting or sleeping to work much better because they muffle the sounds which makes them less distracting, and the total attenuation can be just as low as expensive earplugs (30-35dB).

It is possible that someone makes custom fitted earplugs design to decrease distraction which would be better than the foam ones, but don't spend all that money without having a long talk with the audiologist first and making sure they will make things better not worse!

I commute by train and have a fairly low tolerance threshold for other people's inane chatter and noise pollution from crappy headphones. In a bid to stay out of prison for assault I invested in a pair of Etymotic earphones. IMHO they're arguably the best you can buy when it comes to sound isolation (as opposed to noise cancellation) and sound reproduction. They come with lots of different tips - you can even have custom tips made which are moulded to your ear canals. Expensive, yes. But they really work. Without any music they're like a good pair of earplugs, which as you say still lets through the occasional raised voice. Listen to some quiet, neutral music, though (as mentioned by others, try white noise, nature sounds or gentle ambient stuff) and they really do feel like an isolation tank for your head. You have my sincere sympathy - I too have suffered the chronic stress of other people's noise. If you can get the cash together, try these things out. They have greatly improved my quality of life. Good luck. http://www.etymotic.com/

Like a pair from Etymotic

I have a pair of ER4-Ps I use at work (an open plan office). They have >35dB of isolation. People have stood right next to me shouting my name and I haven't heard them. They're so good that people now recognize when they're in and just wave at me instead. You don't have to get the ER4's either, their cheaper ones have almost the same isolation. Also, buy from amazon or something, they have cheaper prices than Ety's online store.

-c

There are basically two ways airborne sound travels between two rooms: 1) air leaks between the rooms. 2) through a mechanism where the sound wiggles the wall surface on one side, which wiggles the surface on the other side and re-transmits the sound back into the air.

You can stop air leaks with attention to detail during construction - the partitions should go all the way up to the ceiling, and the floor and ceiling joints should be caulked. The only way to stop the second problem is making the wall more difficult to wiggle - or increasing it's mass. Most modern dormitories have moved away from concrete and concrete block construction which is much better at stopping sound to a gypsum wall board on metal stud construction, which is lighter and therefore transmits sound much better.

Unless you want to pour a new 6" concrete wall or line the room in thick lead, you are unlikely to be able to stop the sound transmission. Having maintenance seal the door and windows better may help if there is a leak problem. You can tell by listening around the door. If the sound is much louder near the bottom of the door than elsewhere in the room, you've found the leak.

The best way to approach this problem is to go to audiologist and get fitted for custom earplugs. They will make a mold of your ear and send it to a company like http://www.etymotic.com/hp/erme.html. You can select the filter up to a maximum of -25dB over a much more even bandwidth than cheap earplugs. It will likely solve the problem without introducing masking noise willy-nilly.

That being said, a loudspeaker playing white or pink noise could mask the problem, if you don't mind listening to it. I dislike constant noise, but that would be up to you.

If you're hearing "thumping" of footsteps or feeling the noise problem, that's a different ballgame: structure borne transmission. Buy your upstairs neighbors a thick rug so they don't impact the floor as hard or replace the ceiling with something more rigid...

I emphatically vouch for the Custom Fit service that goes with the Etymotics - http://www.etymotic.com/customfit/index.html - The comfort is staggeringly good and the sound isolation is great. You can happily go running without ever worrying about them getting sweaty and falling out. I've had two sets of HF3s and you just re-use the custom molds. The only criticism I could level at them is that after 2 years of heavy use they tend to pick up a slightly yellow hue from earwax that I just can't seem to shift no matter how hard I try to clean them.

The best noise cancelling under $100, period, end of discussion: http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/mc5.html

http://www.amazon.com/Etymotic-Research-Isolating-In-Ear-Earphones/dp/B003S3RFIQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1332724721&sr=8-2

I recommend the Etymotic MC5. Noise cancelling, amazing reproduction and you can get them for around $50-$60 on Amazon.

From TFA:

is This the End of "Made for iPod (TM)"?

Oh, please let the answer be "yes". Why should those of us who don't want to be coddled by the Evil Empire be forced to pay an extra $90 for garbage we won't need or use? (Just try and find the non-iPod version for sale - I've looked and I can't find it).

Better than home depot, Etymotic full frequency plugs are great:

http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er20.html

I agree with the Etymotic earplug recommendation. I have had a pair since the late 90's and they are great.

Granted, I haven't used them in years and they are probably a bit gross now. meh....

Better than home depot, Etymotic full frequency plugs are great:

http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er20.html

I've also had some friends use things like these in datacenters:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00009363P

They let you hear people talk (bandpass filter) without letting the low/high noise in.

I haven't actually tried it, but I have used other Etymotic products, and they generally work very well. Here's the page.

I'm particularly fond of their hf2 stereo headset -- they sound great!

Yes, being in an open office can be a bit noisy and distracting. This is exactly why I have these jammed in my ears all day. Of course, having a workspace with better isolation (aka an office) would be even better.

Hi,

No idea about pros and cons and so on, but figured it could be interesting to take a peek at these for a less expensive solution, even though different.

http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/compmic.aspx

Unfortunately, it's probably only a matter of time. Since we don't have smoking sections anymore, how about a quiet section. Amtrak and the TGV have a quiet cars. Smoke travels almost as well as sound. And if noise really troubles you, pick up some noise-blocking headphones or just some earplugs. Just don't wind up like this guy

Choose your cure

Choose your cure

My suggestion for a cheap pair, over the hearos, are from etymotic research. They make terrific molded earplugs, but these are the best cheap plugs i've found for $12.

I play in several touring bands and am often in loud concert situations most days in a month, and I keep a pair of these on my keychain wherever I go. These attenuate an average of 15 db, and I think they also make a pair that attenuates 8 db or something like that.
Definitely recommended.
p.

Best. Earplugs. Ever.:etymotic research ER20 http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er20.aspx/

Only $12.00 a pair, and doesn't muffle anything. Cool carrying case too.

Get a set of these:

http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er20.aspx

I never go to clubs/raves/live music events without them. It makes it heaps easy to talk to people when wearing them too :)

A whole host of options for protecting your ears. I have some of the Walker's Game Ears to protect me during shooting, hunting, and other noisy activities. The clip noises at 110db if I remember correctly.

I use Etymotic ear buds around the office to give a 25dB reduction in ambient chatter while mixing music with the various puter noises.

I use earplug headphones from Ultimate Ears http://www.ultimateears.com/superfi/superfi-3-stud io_clear.htm both in server rooms and at construction sites. The real advantage I see in passive over active cancellation is that passive phones don't need a power source other than your music player. Etymotic http://www.etymotic.com/ also makes some but I haven't tried them, I do however swear by Etymotic earplugs when I don't want music in my ears.

I've had a set of Etymotic Research 6i Isolator earphones for almost a year now. I can't say enough how great these things are! They are a bit pricey, but worth it. They block out almost all ambient sound - to the point that I can barely hear a bus that I'm riding on. They do get a bit uncomfortable if I wear them for more than 3-4 hours, but even then they're not unbearable. Another advantage to using this type of earphone is that you don't have to crank it up to compete with everything going on around you. This means that you can hear your music better at a lower volume, which reduces the chances of hearing loss. Oh yeah, they also sound great!

They also make a set of earplugs based on the same technology as their earphones. I don't have a set, so I can't testify to their effectiveness, but they might be worth looking at.

Just my $0.02.

I've had a set of Etymotic Research 6i Isolator earphones for almost a year now. I can't say enough how great these things are! They are a bit pricey, but worth it. They block out almost all ambient sound - to the point that I can barely hear a bus that I'm riding on. They do get a bit uncomfortable if I wear them for more than 3-4 hours, but even then they're not unbearable. Another advantage to using this type of earphone is that you don't have to crank it up to compete with everything going on around you. This means that you can hear your music better at a lower volume, which reduces the chances of hearing loss. Oh yeah, they also sound great!

They also make a set of earplugs based on the same technology as their earphones. I don't have a set, so I can't testify to their effectiveness, but they might be worth looking at.

Just my $0.02.

For short term use, or when I need to be able to work with someone else in the machine room, I can't praise highly enough the Etymotic Research high fidelity earplugs. They are designed to lower the noise level of everything evenly, thus still allowing you to hear what people are saying. When I am not working with someone else, I usually wear a pair of Etymotic's Isolator 61 earphones hooked up to an mp3 player.

For long term use, I use a pair of cheap ear muffs (AO Safety brand purchased from Sears) coupled with the earplugs or earphones mentioned above.

As to active noise-canceling headphones... I have used a bunch. Without a doubt in my mind, the Bose QuietComfort's are the best on the market. Alone (without music playing) they do help in noisy environments like machine rooms. With music they are even better at drowning out the noise. That said, having used a pair of the Quiet Comfort 2's in server rooms (and on planes), I think the passive noise blocking of earphones like Etymotic makes to not only be cheaper but also to be more comfortable (both physically and in the not so definable mental anxiety level from hearing constant white noise).

Note that in earphones like earplugs bother some people. I for one can not eat with them in. Some people I know can't walk around with them in easily. If you are leery of purchasing $100+ in-ear earphones, get a cheap pair of earplugs that use a similar in ear piece and try them out.

For short term use, or when I need to be able to work with someone else in the machine room, I can't praise highly enough the Etymotic Research high fidelity earplugs. They are designed to lower the noise level of everything evenly, thus still allowing you to hear what people are saying. When I am not working with someone else, I usually wear a pair of Etymotic's Isolator 61 earphones hooked up to an mp3 player.

For long term use, I use a pair of cheap ear muffs (AO Safety brand purchased from Sears) coupled with the earplugs or earphones mentioned above.

As to active noise-canceling headphones... I have used a bunch. Without a doubt in my mind, the Bose QuietComfort's are the best on the market. Alone (without music playing) they do help in noisy environments like machine rooms. With music they are even better at drowning out the noise. That said, having used a pair of the Quiet Comfort 2's in server rooms (and on planes), I think the passive noise blocking of earphones like Etymotic makes to not only be cheaper but also to be more comfortable (both physically and in the not so definable mental anxiety level from hearing constant white noise).

Note that in earphones like earplugs bother some people. I for one can not eat with them in. Some people I know can't walk around with them in easily. If you are leery of purchasing $100+ in-ear earphones, get a cheap pair of earplugs that use a similar in ear piece and try them out.

I have a set of these myself (in blue) and I take them to concerts. They are great because they make a smooth reduction in sound, there are earplugs out there that decrease it more but not that do it so evenly (unless you spend a ton on the etymotic custom ones or something) The one thing that bothers me though is that when its a band that I want to sing (yell) along to it sounds really weird because the earplugs only serve to make your own voice sound louder. Washable and I have no comfort issue with them and at only $12, saving your hearing could never be so easy.

The tried-and-true little yellow foam jobbies are great if you only need them once, and your budget is around $0.03. However, if you're going to be wearing them for longer, or if you are the sort of person that goes to a lot of concerts or clubs, there are better solutions.

One set that I highly, highly recommend are made by Etymotic Research, specifically their ER*20 High Fidelity Earplugs. They're comfortable, and sound isn't "muffled" by them. That is, going out to a club or a concert, the music sounds as good as it would without the plugs, only it's more comfortable. From experience, I can say that wearing them is literally like just turning down the volume on the world. Two people wearing these can even carry on a normal conversation in a noisy environment, provided they speak up sufficiently; I'd always found that the little yellow jobbies destroyed the sound enough to make conversations difficult at best.

Other earplugs more suited to long-term wear exist from a variety of manufacturers, and some quick google searching can help you find those. It's one of those things that, before I was introduced to these earplugs by an audiologist friend of mine, I would never have suspected existed out there.

The tried-and-true little yellow foam jobbies are great if you only need them once, and your budget is around $0.03. However, if you're going to be wearing them for longer, or if you are the sort of person that goes to a lot of concerts or clubs, there are better solutions.

One set that I highly, highly recommend are made by Etymotic Research, specifically their ER*20 High Fidelity Earplugs. They're comfortable, and sound isn't "muffled" by them. That is, going out to a club or a concert, the music sounds as good as it would without the plugs, only it's more comfortable. From experience, I can say that wearing them is literally like just turning down the volume on the world. Two people wearing these can even carry on a normal conversation in a noisy environment, provided they speak up sufficiently; I'd always found that the little yellow jobbies destroyed the sound enough to make conversations difficult at best.

Other earplugs more suited to long-term wear exist from a variety of manufacturers, and some quick google searching can help you find those. It's one of those things that, before I was introduced to these earplugs by an audiologist friend of mine, I would never have suspected existed out there.

You might want to try a pair of good in-ear plugs, like Etymotic.

Nope, from a quick glance it seems to be using the (relativly) simple in-ear technology, similar to these isolating earphones.

Ditto. I also work and live in NYC. I use my PSP to/from work to play games. I've also been able to start listening to music and watching video (transfered from TiVo and re-encoded/downloaded to PSP memory stick). The thing that held me back before was ambient noise. In the subway, the ambient noise in a train car can be pretty loud. I finally stumbled on the ER6 ear-buds from Etymotic. Their great, I can listen to music on an iPod or PSP with the volume down at the half way mark (instead of having to crank it to max to compete with ambient noise). As an added bonus, the buds are black so their less of give-a-way vs. the white "I have a high-tech gadget" ones.

I'm amazed at the number of PSPs I see while commuting. Yeah, the number of iPods dwarfs the PSP number, but I've yet to see more than a handful of DS or GBAs. When I do, their usually low teens. The majority of the people I see with PSPs are high-teens and adults.

My favorite is was a three piece suit type using a PSP right next to a teen on his way to high school. Made me wonder if they were running a WiFi matchup :)

All that said, UMD just was not marketed right to work, and I've never known anyone who had a UMD movie, since there was little incentive to buy them instead of DVDs, especially once the 1GB and 2GB MemoryStick PRO cards came out.

It's actually pretty difficult to accurately test headphone sound levels because the sound level will depend on the volume of air in the ear canal (for ear buds) or under the cup (for over-ear headphones) as well as the leakage around the head phone. This is dependant on the size of the ear and the pressure of the head band on the head (for over-ear headphones). There's a reason why artificial ears and dummy heads cost thousands of dollars.

Mead Killion (founder of Etymotic Research) gave a talk in Boston recently, and he announced a product similar to what you are proposing, and it should go to market soon. Basically, it's a box that goes between the audio player and the headphones, it measures the voltage of the headphone output, and determines safe and unsafe levels. Rather than measuring SPL levels from the headphones directly, the unit will be factory programed with the output levels from various DAP/headphone combinations (determined using lab measurements) so it can map the voltage to the appropriate level.

[Dr. Killion also gave everyone at the talk a free pair of ER-6's, but that was just icing on the cake :) ]

It's actually pretty difficult to accurately test headphone sound levels because the sound level will depend on the volume of air in the ear canal (for ear buds) or under the cup (for over-ear headphones) as well as the leakage around the head phone. This is dependant on the size of the ear and the pressure of the head band on the head (for over-ear headphones). There's a reason why artificial ears and dummy heads cost thousands of dollars.

Mead Killion (founder of Etymotic Research) gave a talk in Boston recently, and he announced a product similar to what you are proposing, and it should go to market soon. Basically, it's a box that goes between the audio player and the headphones, it measures the voltage of the headphone output, and determines safe and unsafe levels. Rather than measuring SPL levels from the headphones directly, the unit will be factory programed with the output levels from various DAP/headphone combinations (determined using lab measurements) so it can map the voltage to the appropriate level.

[Dr. Killion also gave everyone at the talk a free pair of ER-6's, but that was just icing on the cake :) ]

Really no. They sound like crap compared to a real set of headphones, a set like my HD 497s sound amazingly better than any pair of earbuds I've used. They were $40 or so when I got em. The only in-ears that I think might be better are those Etymotic Research ones, and those are too expensive for me.

One of the greatest earplugs I know of are here - http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er20.aspx - the Etymotic ER-20's. I've heard nothing but great things about them on head-fi, the super audiophile site. I've been putting off getting a pair for almost a year now, though. I figure if I'm off to any concerts in the near future, I'm getting them. I once wore my Shure E2c's at a concert because it was so loud. I got a few funny looks, but my ears were okay. :D

You can get hi-fi earplugs that are not custom fit for $12 http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er20.aspx
There are other providers as well.

I have a set of Etymotic ER6i's that I use, I find the sound quality to be much better than headphones, and the volume is higher, which helps with my hearing loss.
Haven't had a problem with ear wax, my ears are normally very low wax in the first place. Only problem I have is getting the damn things in and out, they go so deep into the ear canal there's not much else in options but to pull it out by the wire.

I sort of go along that vein, using a distant cousin of the ear bud: in-ear monitors. These actually seal up the ear canal relatively completely, isolating the music from outside noise far better than ear buds (think ear plugs and headphones combined). And I never feel the need to turn my music's volume further than halfway.

So I don't suffer from over-loudness, but of course one consequence of this is that I am pretty much deaf to anything outside the headphones, so I can't hear people talking to me like you can. But IEMs or other similar noise-isolating/cancelling headphones are nigh necessity on the NYC subway, as far as I'm concerned. There's probably far more people suffering hearing loss on the subway here than anywhere else, as they crank to 11 to kill off the scream of the trains.

The article says the major problem is the volume being too high. For this reason, I bought a pair of Etymotic Research ER-6I Isolator Earphones a year ago on sale for $100. Basically these earbuds will block out all external sounds. These were an excellent investment. The sound quality is amazing, and they reduce noise better than any noise canceling beasts on the market; and without the static sounds. It is like having ear plugs in coupled with amazing sound and surprisingly good bass. I can listen at 1% volume on my ipod and be happy. I bought them to travel on plane trips which has been amazing to have enjoyable flights.

Why would any different style of speaker be any more or less likely to cause hearing damage vs another? Surely the only thing that really matters is the volume at which the sound hits your eardrum.

Earbuds may be closer to the eardrum, but the sound that comes out of them is far less loud than that of a speaker (for comparison, plug your earbuds in and listen to them from the same distance that you'd listen to speakers from. clearly they're FAR more quiet). Therefore they make up for the closer distance to your eardrum by being less noisy. As a result, you should be just as likely to get hearing damage from speakers as from earbuds, assuming you listen to both at the same perceived volume.

All that the article seems to indicate is "In a study published last year in the journal Ear and Hearing, researchers at Harvard Medical School looked at a variety of headphones and found that, on average, the smaller they were, the higher their output levels at any given volume-control setting.". So basically smaller earphones are more sensitive. Duh? Basically all they're saying is that you dont have to turn the volume knob up as high for small buds vs big headphones.

At any given volume, earbuds aren't any more likely to cause hearing damage than headphones or speakers.. it's just that it seems people are too dumb to realise that they have to turn the volume knob down when they change to different brands/styles of headphones.

The research doesn't show that earbuds cause hearing damage, it shows that excessive listening to music at excessive volumes causes hearing damage. It just so happens that portable music players gives the option for many people to listen to music for large amounts of time, and that most portable music players come with earbud style headphones. This is not causation.

In the end, the best way to prevent hearing damage is probably "in-ear phones" or "canalphones". See etymotic, shure, sony, sharp. They are just earphones that go deep inside the earcanal and use a material (usually silicone or foam) to make a seal with the earcanal to prevent any external noise from "leaking" in. Thus, you dont have to turn up the volume to allow you to hear your music over cars, computer fans, tvs, etc... Thus, your music is at a lower volume and your hearing is happier

For proof, btw, I personally got hearing damage when i moved away from canalphones and instead bought some full-sized headphones. They were both very bright in sound (lots of shharp trebble) and open (lots of sound leaking in, meaning i turned it up more). That combo did more damage than earphones ever have

not cheap

The big culprits aren't the devices themselves, but the tiny 'ear bud' style headphones that the music players use.

Is it the design of the headphones, or the design of the headphones combined with people listening to their music at higher levels than usual?

" In a study published last year in the journal Ear and Hearing, researchers at Harvard Medical School looked at a variety of headphones and found that, on average, the smaller they were, the higher their output levels at any given volume-control setting. And other studies have shown that because the tiny phones inserted into the ears are not as efficient at blocking outside sounds as the cushioned headsets, users tend to crank up the volume to compensate."

So the problem isn't a technological one, but a psychological one. I'm guessing the in-ear phones like the ones made by Etymotic wouldn't be subject to this phenomenon.

I hear that top of the line *integrated* earplug / earphone is here.

I can't vouch for the headphones, but I will recommend Etymotic's earplugs. They're fantastic. I go to a lot of heavy metal concerts and my ears used to ring pretty bad because of the high tones that would vibrate my ears to the point where they'd hurt. These earplugs take away the high frequencies so you don't get that problem. The music doesn't sound muffled either! I can't recommend them enough. I've got to get a pair of their headphones. If they work as well as the plugs, that's great.

As a proud owner of a Rio Karma, I wanted to get the most out of that player's superior sound quality (take that, iPod!), so I picked up a pair of Etymotic ER-6 earplugs. They provide about 35 dB of sound isolation, and the sound quality is utterly amazing. I've never had to pump the volume on my Karma past 20% while using them - and when I'm listening to music with them, I can't hear the phone ring three feet away (another huge benefit).

They block outside noise by 23db, so you don't have to turn the music up to drown out the noise. I sometimes leave them in even without listening to music. They are nearly as good as a pair of headphone style hearing protectors.

http://www.etymotic.com/