Earplugs: You're Probably Inserting Them Wrong
Do you engage in any really loud summer activities, like chainsawing, monster truck rallies, or vacuuming a library? If you do, Consumer Reports Health wants you to know that not only should you be wearing earplugs, you're probably inserting them wrong.
They've made a handy instructional video to show you how to get actual hearing protection from cheap foam earplugs. (The video is the source of the "vacuuming a library" remark, too.)
Earplugs for Hearing Protection [Consumer Reports Health]
(Photo: jm3)
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Comments:
Yeah, I think most people who use these really rarely don't know about rolling them.
When we were cutting lots of metal in the theater shop one day we got a big bucket of them, and most people shoved them in unrolled and went.
They were, of course, the ones going "HEY, it's REALLY LOUD".
I never rolled mine that well though, always kind of just flattened. So good tip :D!
@youbastid: Absoulutely. The little blue and white cardboard pouches with the yellow ear plugs in them even had the picture of someone stretching their ear, a la elf style.
@yagisencho: 6 months with a snoring pregnant wife (twice) gave me the same level of earplug expertise.
I wear ear plugs every day on the commute to work (noisy subway). I can do the roll-stretch-insert one handed, so I can put both in simultaneously to enter my quiet place.
Another tip is that if you're having trouble rolling them, try cooling them down in the wind. This either increases or decreases their viscoelasticity (depending on how that term is used), and they will expand slower giving you more time to insert them.
Another another tip is if you still can't compress them into a tight roll, you've probably had them way too long and its time to throw them out.
Another another another tip is that lots of foam earplugs look alike, but they don't behave the same. You should try different brands to find one that suits you, and not assume that they'll behave similarly because they're the same shape.
I originally used a pair of "ear muffs" I bought from Home Depot w/a pair of head phones stuck in them, so I was muffling the sound, and also not getting bored. I bought a cheap Hard Hat from Grainger when I was cutting down tree branches in my yard, and couldn't use the ear muffs I had, so I bought a pair of flip down muffs that clip into my hard hat. Since about the age of 18, I wear sunglasses whenever I go out and wear ear protection whenever I am riding my mower in my paddocks, using the brush whacker, pushing a mower, etc... At 31
@OGH!_GitEmSteveDave: Damn enter key. As I was saying, at 31 tomorrow, my eyesight has slipped to 20/20 from 20/16 and my hearing is still damn good. I firmly believe a ounce of prevention is worth a lb of cure.
A PSA is always good, but I also tend to think that this is a non-issue, as it is clearly printed on the ear plugs. But that's just me.
What is an issue is getting people to use ear plugs. I love it when people tell me at concerts that they don't wear ear plugs because they want to hear the music, and I respond, "I want to hear the music tonight and 10 years from now."
I have significantly less hearing loss compared to others my age, despite working in audio, because I use ear plugs and use common sense when it comes to headphone use and choice.
Is hearing hygiene taught in health classes these days?
@OGH!_GitEmSteveDave: I think we'd all appreciate a picture with you wearing the hard hat, ear muffs and sunglasses. I'm thinking modern day Unabomber.
@Nathan Miller: Apparently there's people that don't know how to read a package and need a video to explain it to them.
@youbastid: True, but a lot of times, like in my old lab at school, there's just a bid ol' bin of them with no instructions or labels on it.
@DeadWriter: I actually find the music sounds better at concerts with earplugs in. They cut way down on the high frequencies, which are the harsher ones that tend to bounce around the venue and muddle the mix.
@Newman!!!!: Some of the bulk containers aren't labeled with this info. Our resident bin is not, although there's a little poster nearby.
@DeadWriter: When I went to concerts I always just put them in halfway, but I was doing that on purpose so that it didn't muffle all of the sound. The concerts I went to also were not that loud, but loud enough to require a bit of protection. When I put them in halfway the sound was perfect and I could adjust how loud the volume was to me by either pushing the plugs in a little or pulling them out.
@Getem Homerjay!: wait - she only snored for 6 of the months she was pregnant? or she delivered prematurely both times?
@catastrophegirl - manic first time home buyer: Considering I don't personally know Homerjay or his wife this is only supposition but I'm guessing the snoring was in some way caused by the increase in abdominal mass or "baby" and the first three months of the pregnancy didn't involve as much swelling as the final six.
@Nathan Miller: Big dispensers/packages (you know, like the one in the picture) don't have instructions.
And some people only use them once or twice. /shrug.
@dadelus: I snore more when I sleep on my back, so maybe Mrs. Homerjay had to sleep on hers when her belly got big enough and that's what made her snore.
It feels kind of creepy to speculate on why someone else's wife is snoring.
@youbastid: Yeah, I have just always known to roll them. Of course, my mom used to take my sister and I to airshows as kids and she's uber-health-and-safety mom, so I guess we just learned young.
@supercereal: You would put earplugs in that had been sitting in a communal bin? Yuck, I know ears aren't a big perpetrator of communicable diseases but I wouldn't want someone's earwax plugging up my ear...
Forget about ear plugs. These things[1] are awesome. They are comfortable and do an excellent job of killing sound.
[1] -- [tinyurl.com]
@SybilDisobedience:
Yeah, the swelling forcing Mrs. HomerJay (Marge!?) to make the switch to sleeping on her back was kinda the point I was getting at.
And yes, I hope neither Homer or Marge takes umbridge at my tongue in cheek suppositions of their bedroom activties. I mean no disrespect, simply trying to clarify why the first three months of the pregnancies might be snore free.
@gstein: I guess I could have said little Bart and Lisa but that might be seen as taking a theme too far. :)
@DeadWriter: Suddenly I'm glad I'm cheap- at the two concerts I've been to (one was ages ago while another one was two years ago for L'Arc En Ciel and cost me some US$25) I wasn't close enough to the stage to necessitate earplugs. That or the sound system was unusually quiet and I'm only making myself unprepared for the aural assault that is an American concert.
I spent last summer testing smoke detectors and fire alarms for the local school district.
We never wore ear plugs, although we did hand them out to anyone who wanted them.
We did wear them at one school, but it was a very old, weird school with an honest to god air raid siren as the audible device. I guess they actually hand out ear plugs to the kids on fire drill days.























Thanks for the heads up. No doubt vacuuming is the loudest thing I do in my home, and I do notice that sensation you get in your ears when you listen to something loud you shouldn't be.