ears!

[juliet]

Was reminded last night that I probably haven't pimped these for a while, so, for the benefit of my readers who occasionally attend events where Loud Music is played: the best earplugs ever. They work evenly across frequencies, so you hear the same music, just about 15-20 decibels quieter (i.e. enough to stop it hurting). Unlike the Boots/etc foam ones, which have a muffling effect.

It's worth bearing in mind that noise-induced hearing loss is gradual (so you don't necessarily notice it happening) & permanent once it's happened. Someone I used to know on a mailing list had given themselves tinnitus from loud music so badly that by their mid-20s they could no longer go to gigs/clubs at all (which scared the hell out of me, personally!). I know my hearing isn't as good as it used to be (I'm worse than I was at hearing speech in loud places), & I *really* don't want it getting any worse.

Anyway, yeah: £12, not disposable, stop your ears hurting, should significantly reduce damage being done, & as an added bonus mean you can actually hear people talking when in clubs/gigs! (dogrando's & my theory is that the very loud music makes your ears vibrate overmuch, like when speakers are turned up too high, & that reducing that makes you able to distinguish between noises, e.g. speech & music, again). Best £12 I ever spent.

(nb I have no affiliation with these people, I just really really like their earplugs & tell everyone about them in an over-evangelical fashion)

Update: slightly cheaper suppliers here.

Comments

[mangosteen]

I will note that Etymotic does volume discounts for the ER-20 earplugs, and the price breaks are rather steep.

Having inquired, I found out that their price for quantity 25-99 is $6.25 each (GBP ~3.50) at current rates.

I will also note that I'll be coming over in a couple of months, and would be amenable to hauling over a bunch of them (in appropriate quantity) if you can't find a quantity supplier locally.

[juliet]

I'm pretty sure you can't get large quantities over here (none of the stockists say they offer any such, anyway). Although I have found this lot selling them for £7.99 + £1.19 if you want the cord as well, which is an improvement.

Could you prod me a couple of weeks before you're next due to be over & I'll see if there's enough folk interested to be worth a bulk shipment - thanks for the offer!

[i-ludicrous.livejournal.com]

I'd be up for some - took most of a day before my hearing was back to normal after the Queen Adreena gig a couple of weeks ago - scary :-S

[juliet]

Well - the US import ;-) won't be here till New Year (see mangosteen's comment below). Up to you whether you'd rather spring for the 8 quid now (see update link above) or wait a couple of months & save 4 quid or so. Depending I guess on how many gigs you're likely to attend between now & then! (fwiw my advice would be that it's not worth saving the 4 quid if you would use them at all between now & then).

[i-ludicrous.livejournal.com]

You have a point there. I'll probably just mail order some now. Quite a few gigs before the New Year, and a couple of Intrusions to go to.

[mangosteen]

Could you prod me a couple of weeks before you're next due to be over & I'll see if there's enough folk interested to be worth a bulk shipment - thanks for the offer!

No problem at all. I'm coming over for New Year's, so I'll ping you in mid-December.