Ear Plug Superstore - Official Blog

What Are the Best Ear Plugs for Sleeping With Snoring?

We get this question all the time:

"What is the best earplug for sleeping for someone who sleeps with an incredibly LOUD snorer?"

If you're also trying to sleep with a snoring bed partner, you know the struggle is real. When the snoring is loud and sleep is at a premium, ear plugs are just the first step to finding peace.

Foam ear plugs are simply the most effective ear plugs you can buy at any price. Many people who have tried foam ear plugs consider them ineffective and uncomfortable, but that is almost always the result of improper use. You cannot simply jam them into your ears and expect them to work. In fact, they actually are a bit tricky to learn to use properly. Here is a video that will show you how to use them in case you have never had instruction in the art. Finding the right ear plugs can be a challenge, even when you know how to fit them properly. We offer several ear plug trial packs so that you can try different kinds to get the ones you like best.

Sometimes, ear plugs simply cannot do enough, so I want to suggest that you consider a masking noise for your obviously awful sleep-depriving situation (but do try the foam ear plugs first…) White noise machines can give you the closest thing to complete isolation of any consumer device.

Here are four ways to use these machines that you might try, in increasing levels of effectiveness in creating a noise isolation field:

1. First, a table top white noise machine will fill the bedroom with a masking sound that will do two things. First the masking noise, usually called white noise, will keep your threshold of hearing elevated so that you do not hear so acutely. You may have noticed that the quieter you make it by using plugs, the better your hearing seems to get? This is a natural phenomenon and any masking sound will help prevent it. Second, the masking sound will compete with the irritating noises, and as long as the masking sound is louder in your ears, you will be unable to hear the irritating noise. This may not be sufficient to address your noise problems if they are severe, but it is a good place to start. Just be sure you get a white noise machine that has a headphone jack so you can use it in the systems here if necessary.
2. Second, add a set of pillow speakers that plug into your white noise machine. This will let you increase the volume right where you are sleeping, to greatly improve the intensity of the masking sound. Note, that white noise types of masking sounds carry no information so your mind can easily tune them out after just a few minutes, allowing you to sleep more soundly than you would in a quiet environment.
3. Third, if the pillow speakers do not do adequately mask the noise that is bothering you, you might try a Snoremasker Pro. This is a combination of an ear plug and an in-ear white noise machine. This in-ear white noise generators are not cheap, so it's a good idea to try a combination of ear plugs and tabletop white noise before you move on to a Snoremasker Pro. For some people, these are a real life-saver.
4. Finally, you can try our Office Isolator system. One caution on this one. There is no volume limiter on the Office Isolator so you can potentially do harm to your hearing if you turn it up too loudly, so you need to be cautious and use just the amount of white noise you need to do the job.

Until next time, be safe and love your ears!
Sarah Bergman, Web Developer
Ear Plug Superstore

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More Ways to Connect With Us:

Have you done your good deed yet today? We’re donating child ear muffs to needy students. Learn more & help now: http://sharetherelief.earplugstore.com/

Is Spring Cleaning Hurting Your Hearing?

It's time to shake the winter dust off our feet, out from under the couch, and out of our homes now that spring cleaning season is in full swing! All that activity and accomplishment leaves some of us wondering -- just where did spring cleaning come from in the first place? Interestingly, it isn't just the lethargy of winter wearing off that causes us to jump into action when the weather starts to warm and the grass begins to grow again. Ancient customs from all around the globe -- including some related to the coming of passover, the Iranian new year, and old Chinese ideas about sweeping out back luck and welcoming new luck into the home -- provide some possible roots for our modern compulsion to clean when spring rolls around. And while we all get busy cleaning, many of us also begin a big round of DIY (do-it yourself) projects to improve our newly-cleaned homes.

While it can feel great to get all that stale dust out of the way after a long winter, it's important to keep your safety in mind while you do your spring cleaning. Can too much vacuuming be potentially dangerous to your hearing? What about the tools you may be using to get your home into shape? We've got the answers you need to spring clean successfully - and safely.

Vacuum Cleaners: Is My Vacuum Just Annoying, or Actually Dangerously Loud?

The bane of many household pets and tv-watching family members alike, vacuum cleaners all share one specific and annoying trait: volume. Vacuum cleaners are loud, often sending the family dog into spasms and ruining everyone's peace and quiet throughout the house. This is especially true of some of the newer models, which use powerful filters to keep particulate out of the air, which in turn means more power is required to move the air through those filters -- thus, more sound is generated.

Over the years, vacuum cleaners have been engineered specifically to be quieter, but this seemingly-obvious improvement has simply never gone over well with consumers. As it turns out, people expect a vacuum cleaner to make a certain amount of noise, and most people will reject and return a very quiet vacuum, thinking it must not have as much power or suction as a noisier model!

According to Purdue University, vacuum cleaners have settled in at around 70dB. This is loud enough to drown out the TV, make conversation impossible, and apparently meet our expectations for how loud a vacuum cleaner should be. On the bright side, that's not loud enough to pose a threat to our hearing. People often find sounds in the 70dB+ range to be irritatingly loud, and some vacuum cleaners are louder than others, but it's probably safe to say your vacuum cleaner isn't a hearing hazard.

Power Tools: Which Power Tools are the Loudest?

When it comes to noise output, not all tools are made equal. Industrial power tools are a well-known hearing hazard, prompting NIOSH's action to support the Buy Quiet initiative that encourages the use of lower-volume tools in the workplace. But how hazardous are the power tools we use at home? In fact, many of the regular, familiar power tools waiting in your home garage or shop are absolutely loud enough to cause noise-induced hearing damage.

Which power tools are the loudest?

Circular Saw - 99-112
Grinder - 93-109
Belt Sander - 93-102
Drill - 93-98
Jig Saw - 92-98

There's a quick idea about which of your tools may be the loudest. While you can sometimes test out a tool to get an idea of what kind of noise energy it's going to put out, most power tools are actually louder when in use (loaded). Also, as an interesting tidbit, Black and Decker power tools generally tend to be just a few dB louder than comparable DeWalt models, but the difference isn't significant or consistent enough to recommend one brand over the other.

Because any sound over 85dB has the potential to begin causing hearing damage, it's always a good idea to wear hearing protection when you work with power tools around your home, garden, and garage. Keep some ear plugs in your tool belt or wherever you store your safety goggles, so you won't forget to protect your ears while you sand, saw, and drill your way to spring DIY victory.

Spring Cleaning Solutions to Protect Your Hearing

Don't let the need to keep your ears safe keep you away from the cleaning and other projects that are calling to you to get busy this spring. There are three really great methods of protecting your hearing while you deal with noisy tools -- and the last two methods also offer music listening capabilities, which will make your spring cleaning a lot more fun both indoors and out.

Method #1: DIY Ear Plugs
Several types of ear plugs have recently been developed especially for use while working on DIY projects around the house, or for use while mowing and doing yard work. These ear plugs come in a variety of NRRs (Noise Reduction Ratings), so you can pick ear plugs with a low NRR to just take the edge off while you dremmel a few corners, or you can get a high NRR ear plug that will protect you comfortably for hours on end.

Method #2: Ear Plug Earphones
Plugfones isolation earphones are essentially ear plugs crossed with earphones. The result is a set of earbud-style in-ear earphones that block outside noise while letting you listen to your iPhone or any other device with a standard audio jack. These are excellent for both high volume tasks involving power tools, as well as for lower volume tasks such as vacuuming, because the ear plug components block out that noise so you can really enjoy your music in excellent clarity.

Method #3: AM/FM Radio Earmuffs
For those who prefer an over-the-ear solution, AM/FM Radio Earmuffs are an excellent choice -- they provide both hearing protection and the ability to listen to the radio while you work. Not only do they have built-in AM/FM radios, but many of these earmuffs also have audio input jacks, so you can listen to your smart phone or MP3 player, too. When it comes to mowing and other outdoors projects, AM/FM earmuffs are a very popular solution.

Equipped with the right information, cleaning products, power tools, and hearing protection, spring cleaning can be a safe (and oddly satisfying) time for all of us.

Until next time, be safe and love your ears!
Sarah Bergman, Web Developer
Ear Plug Superstore

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More Ways to Connect With Us:

Have you done your good deed yet today? We’re donating child ear muffs to needy students. Learn more & help now: http://sharetherelief.earplugstore.com/