One thing that plagued me when first buying a pair of musicians earplugs was deciding how much I needed to reduce volume by. In the end I opted for a pair with a 20dB reduction which were way too much for the common scenario I was looking to wear them in. As I’m sure many of you have either been in or are in this position right now I’ve tried to compile a rough guide to help you choose the right pair, first time.
Before getting too far ahead of ourselves lets look at decibels quickly. Actual volume (or sound pressure) doubles every 6dB. This means that decibels run on an exponential curve and not linear. This means that if the outside volume is 100dB and we reduce it by 12dB it’s actually going to be 33% as loud to our ears instead of the 88% you might think at first glance.
Now lets look at commonly available filters in both commercial earplugs and custom molded options.
Commercial Earplugs
- 12dB (Earasers, ER20s, etc)
- 19dB (Surefire EP4)
- 23dB (LiveMus1k)
- 26dB (LiveMus1k)
Custom Molded Earplugs
From my own experience custom molded earplugs typically come in 5 dB increments:
- 10dB
- 15dB
- 20dB
Earplug Applications
Attendee (Club)
Being an attendee you still want to feel involved with the music, reducing the volume too much can detract from your experience making you feel disconnected from the rest of the room. For that reason I’d rule out anything over 15dB unless your ears are very sensitive.
Recommendation: 10-15dB
Attendee (Festival)
Average volume at a festival is going to vary much more than inside a club which means you might prefer something with even less of a decibel reduction to simply take the edge off. 0
Recommendation: 5-15dB
Musician (DJ)
Being a DJ myself I’ve found my sweet spot at 15dB custom molded earplugs. Anything over 19dB and it becomes very difficult to mix with them on while anything under 12dB might still be causing long term damage.
Recommendation 12dB-19dB
Musician (Band)
I can’t personally speak from experience in this category but from people I’ve spoken too attest to requiring much higher levels of ear protection (especially drummers). For that reason I wouldn’t recommend anything under 15dB and would try starting around 20dB
Recommendation: 15dB+