Ear plugs

Noise from my neighbors and my laptop made me consider buying ear plugs. The first thing I did was to search the net for some advice. I found this superb series of reviews of several different kinds of ear plugs, and was convinced that it was worth a try. I went out and bought a small set of Quies foam ear plugs [picture] from the local pharmacy, and was very pleased to find how well they worked in terms of noise reduction. They greatly enhanced my concentration under my less than ideal circumstances, but were too painful to wear for hours at a time. Naturally, having gotten this small taste of tranquility, I decided to go ahead and test the supposedly best ear plugs on the market, Hearos Ultimate Softness Foam Ear Plugs (pictured below). I ordered 20 pairs online, and was not disappointed. They are a lot softer than the Quies product — which is not to say that the pressure in the ear is completely gone: It’s still there, but less annoying.

Ear plugs immediately became something of a revelation to me. I think I’m going to make use of them for the rest of my life. And so far, Hearos is my preferred product.

Some people might worry about whether putting a 2 cm long object into the auditory canal might damage the ear drum. I did, and asked a doctor about it. She ensured me that its not dangerous, because the ear drum is out of reach for most ear plugs. And even if it were to be reached, it will withstand a careful poke.

How to use foam ear plugs:

• Wash your hands. Roll the plug into a compact cylinder, and push it into the upper back side of your ear, toward the north pole of your hair. It will probably help also to pull your ear in this direction, to better expose the entrance of the auditory canal.
• Take them out carefully, be sure to let air through, so that your ear drum won’t pop.
• The plugs might be a bit filthy the first couple of times you pull them out, but that would probably be mostly ear wax you’ve managed to push inside the auditory canal with a Q-tip, not a native product of the canal. Q-tips shouldn’t, by the way, venture beyond that which is reachable by your smallest finger. The canal cleanses itself of wax (by the movement of your jaw), so don’t worry about it.
• To clean the ear plugs, just use water and regular soap. In my experience, the plugs become bloated while wet, and slightly harder to compress when dry, but still possible to use. I don’t yet know for how long though.