Tinnitus Worse After Listening to Boyfriend's Band Practicing Music: Looking for Support

Well that is very misleading and I would think would open up all kinds of law suits. That is false advertising. I got my custom made musician’s earplugs from a very reputable source through my audiologist. I would think they would be aware of this and educating people about it. If that’s the case, why bother wearing them?

 

It really is all very confusing.

Earplug manufacturers will have their earplugs tested at Universities or other professional laboratories, yet OSHA or NIOSH or whoever will rate them lower (the NRR rating). Then Cooper and 3M decide that the rating should be even lower, basically stating that there is really barely any protection.

Then there is the European SNR rating system that makes things even more confusing.

 

So then when you use something that says to be NRR rated, which is what everything over the counter is, plus custom musician’s earplugs, how are you supposed to know what the real decibel noise reduction is?

That’s actually criminal that people think that they’re getting protection that they’re not. And it’s even more criminal that audiologists and people who are fitting people for these custom musician’s earplugs don’t know that either. To do what you’re saying is what Cooper and 3M said it’s not even worth doing. Just blow out your ears.

Are you saying I haven’t been protecting my ears all along when I thought I was? I basically went to this concert thinking that I had 30 dB protection and I probably had 10 dB at best. Well I am now screwed.

 

I don't think you got that little protection. I have to look again, but I found in the 3M literature that their formula takes into account improper fit and time spent not wearing protection in the environment (I'm assuming this means someone either putting on ear protection after entering the loud environment or taking them off and on during their shift).

• NRR is derived from a technician fitting the hearing protection on the test subjects themselves, so it's all really based on possibly a single technician's idea of proper fit.

• I believe the non-NRR ratings manufacturers advertise are base on tests done on a dummy/prosthetic ear (I'm not sure what the proper term is).

• I don't really know how SNR is derived, even though that's how my custom earplugs are rated. I'll have to look it up.

But all-in-all, these tests are done in perfect settings under perfect conditions, so obviously in the real world the amount of protection will vary.

I also wonder if there is a certain level of volume where the protection begins to diminish. With decibel levels being logarithmic (though I've seen it argued that A-weighted is not logarithmic), there must be a difference in protection between say 80 dB and 110 dB?

I just stumbled upon this little utility offered by the CDC that tests whether your hearing protection gives a minimum 15 dB in protection. Don't worry, it's not loud. You're actually meant to turn the volume up until the sound is barely audible.

I tried it with my ACS Pro-26 custom earplugs and they passed the test.

https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/content/quickfitweb.html

 

How are you doing these days @katri did things settle in the end?