How to Protect Ears at a Carnival?

I was planning to attend a carnival (not for the music, but for a running event), but that definitely wouldn't be possible for me if I only used earplugs/had my ears exposed. I'm quite sensitive to loud noises, with the most recent example being a steel pans band that caused me great discomfort.

Are there any professional ear protection headphones/noise mufflers that could significantly reduce or mute the music volume?

 

I had a significant setback with both tinnitus and hyperacusis when I went to a small-scale carnival in 2020 because of an unexpected firecracker that went off closely, so I think the main problem is that carnivals are situations where you have a certain chance to be exposed to jackasses who cause excessive noise.

Since using earplugs already wouldn't be enough in your case (I assume you insert them correctly), double-protection with earmuffs wouldn't change much (about an extra 5 dB reduction, this is because protection works logarithmically, not additively).

And you're only speaking of expected noise which is already too much for you, so unexpected loud noise will definitely be too much. So I would advise against going to the carnival.

 

From my understanding, properly inserted foam earplugs are the best protection and provide the best noise reduction. You could double up with earplugs and earmuffs.

 

Properly inserted foam earplugs are the best hearing protection on planet Earth. You won't find anything on the market that protects more. What you could do is to use double protection, i.e. both foam earplugs and earmuffs. That will provide another 4-5 dB noise reduction.

 

Thank you so much for the advice. This is quite a large-scale event, so I think not attending would be for the best.

Thank you for the suggestion. I already own plastic earplugs, but would you say foam earplugs are more effective? I only got tinnitus very recently, so I'm not really in the know regarding ear protection.

Thank you very much.

 

Foam earplugs provide up to 32-34 dB protection when inserted correctly.

Closed plastic earplugs (not the open type) are typically between 12-24 dB depending on design.

 

Foam earplugs and custom-made silicon ones have similiar effectiveness against low-frequency sounds. But against higher frequencies - fire alarms, ambulance sirens et cetera - foam is much better.

Not sure what plastic earplugs is, but if they don't enter the inner-ear canal, I advice you to scrap them. Earplugs must enter the inner-ear canal to have any effect.

 

Foam earplugs with an NRR = 33 are better than plastic ones.

 

Are you a runner that was going to participate in an event there?

 

What's a good brand to use? I saw reviews that current Mack's ones are far less quality than they used to be, so I wasn't sure. I've never put in foam earplugs before and it honestly terrifies me to try since my friend burst their eardrum that way...

 

I would not advise you to run with earplugs or earmuffs as the sound of footsteps will reverberate... this will be more evident if you are not used to wearing hearing protection, this is, if your ears are not used to wearing earplugs or earmuffs often.

As others said, there is also an inherent risk when one is surrounded by unpredictable people partying at a festival or carnival... there may be very loud noise that you do not expect

 

Yeah, I was going to do a charity run. Now I'm going to run for the cause, but in a different location instead.

Thank you for the info, very helpful since I don't know much about earplugs.

Thank you so much.

 

How did your friend burst their eardrum from a foam earplug? Shoved it in too far? Or was it later on that their eardrum burst?

You can put in foam earplugs and also put in the Mack's silicone putty over it.