Most People Are Not Wearing Earplugs Properly. Thoughts?

The NRR ratings on the packaging of ear plugs are not appropriate because no one is wearing them properly?

I would confidently guess that 90% of people wearing ear plugs are not fitting them correctly and thus the NRR ratings are useless. Perhaps in the tinnitus community the percentage of people fitting plugs correctly is much higher as we tend to get a lot of practice and we're probably more paranoid about noise damage than non-tinnitus sufferers.

I reckon that most of the tinnitus sufferers though who go to loud clubs/ concerts after the onset and get a permanent spike from one occasion have not fitted earplugs correctly and therefore have received maybe 1/3 of the protection that the NRR rating suggests. There is a clear divide between those who still participate in loud activities WITH protection and those who leave it all together because they fear a permanent spike is inevitable.

I believe that the anecdotal evidence on here that supports the do not engage in loud activities such as loud bars/ clubs and concerts as it is a risk, argument, is not relevant due to the fact that no one is getting the maximum usage out of there plugs and so the stories of spiking are not applicable to the debate.

And in fact if one could ensure a 'laboratory' standard fit (as in you refit them every 20 mins after youve been moving around and you fit them to touch the ear drum, the NRR could be achieved and you could safely experience exposure to (80 + 33db) = 113db.

Thoughts?

 

I'm not sure this is a safe assumption. Plugs don't really protect you from bass.

 

I believe the skull attenuates 40db of low frequency sounds... of course there is a risk still.