E-A-R Roll-down Foam Earplugs; Essential Travel Equipment

Few products are as worthy of endorsement as the E-A-R Roll-down Foam Earplugs. E-A-R has good ones and bad ones. Make sure you get the good ones: known as E-A-Rsoft™ Yellow Neons™ "Regular Size" Ear soft, with a NRR 33dB. That is the highest NRR available, and I’m assuming that NRR means Noise Reduction Rate.

According to the E-A-R website these little yellow bullets are the world’s softest earplugs, and I can attest to that. You can have them inserted in your ear a whole working day without feeling the slightest bit of irritation. Most industrial environment offer some form of hearing protection but I’m so attached to my neon yellow E-A-R plugs that I rather bring my own than running the risk of having to use those other, crunchy ones that feel like you have a cactus in your ear, and reduce noise far less thorough.

But not only in industrial settings will you see me with them in my head. I use them on every flight, long or short, and where my fellow travelers exit the plane rumpled, irritated and noise exhausted, I’m chipper, fresh and ready to travel some more. These E-A-R plugs manage to block out the low drones and high pitches but leave both the in-flight movie and an orange juice offering flight attendant perfectly audible.

On ships and oil rigs I even sleep with them.

You roll them between thumb and index finger until they’re about two millimeters thick. Then you shove them into your ear, where they expand again, fill the auditory channel and create a perfect blockade. They’re no greater sound than that of a noisy world slowly growing dim.

E-A-R noise reduction: and the world grew still.