A Question (or Two) About Earplugs, Flight and Barotrauma

Hello guys!

I am going on a really long flight next week (one 1h flight and one 9h+ flight) of 10 hours of flight time total. I've been on shorter flights ranging from 1-4h the past two years and it has been mostly fine even if my anxiety is usually high before, during and a bit after the flights.

As I am going on a long flight this time, I was wondering about regular foam plugs, would it be safe to use them once we have reached max altitude and it's mid-flight (not at takeoff or landing!)? I don't want to risk barotrauma and if the foam plugs are not safe even mid-flight, I'll stay away from them. I've used earplanes and other airplane plugs before and usually, my ear canal hurts a lot after an hour or so. For the short flights I've endured through it but I know that 9 hours would be too long for my ears to handle. I've used the smallest size but it still somehow hurts me so I'll only use it for an hour during taking off and one hour before landing. I'll bring both earmuffs and noise canceling headphones just in case but would love to be able to maybe get some sleep and not have a pair of earmuffs on me. They are a tight fit and are not very comfortable.

Another thing I am a bit scared of is any turbulence, as almost every flight to Asia from Europe have been turbulence filled for 10-20 min or so, with the worst flight where we dropped so much that food and beverage flew up in the air and I thought I was going to die. For these reasons, I am also scared of using foam earplugs if the sudden drop in pressure would cause barotrauma with the plugs in.

Any advice on this?

 

I fly for work very regularly, and have probably been on near 500 flights. I have used foam plugs, musician plugs and all types of plugs for flying, both domestically and long hall. Honestly, people are going to give you a lot of responses but even if you don't wear hearing protection the chances of causing acoustic damage is very very low - all airline companies have work place health and safety regulations and its simply not louder enough in a plane.

That said, we have tinnitus and so we will reduce any possible risk!
- I use the Bose Qc35 Noise cancelling headphones while flying and those are amazing because you can listen at very low volumes and it cuts out the outside noise. Do not confuse these with "other" noise cancelling headphones, the difference is like night and day.
- Take a set of foam plugs or ear plugs as backup if anxiety takes hold; the most noisy time is landing and take off.
- Sitting towards the front is always the most quiet part of the plane.
- Those "earplanes" do not do anything in my experience. Have chewing gum and chew durning landing/take off instead to equalise the ears.
- I used to get very bad pain when landing, but nasal sprays have helped somewhat and I keep a Panadol handy during descent if I feel any pain coming on as well.

 

@Pleasure_Paulie

Thanks for the tips! My first real flight so to speak so bit worried but probably gonna ace it! Picked a more expensive airline just because they had better and quieter planes to be honest.

Will take with me my whole arsenal of protection like a mad woman but so worth it hehehe!

Thanks again ❤