Ear Plugs For Music Festival - What NRR should I get?
I’ve seen many from ranges of 10-20. Obviously 20 is best, but how much is needed for a music festival? I remember last year when Kaskade played his set at ID Fest, I had ringing in my ears for an hour or two. I’m trying to avoid that but not block out all the sound. Should I get something closer to 20? Or is around 15 fine?
If you want to stay safe, get 20dB protection AT LEAST.
Everything over 80dB is harmful after some time, and believe me, at festivals the dBs go well over 100dB. So in theory, your hearing will even damage permanently after wearing 20dB protection during the whole festival.
Fml
Also invest in good custom molded ones. Cheap might offer almost the same protection (and in a lot of cases it doesn’t), but the music is going to sound very muffled, resulting in a very ‘distant’ music experience.
Hearos Xtreme Protection are 33 NRR. $5 at your local Walgreens/Rite Aid if you’re in the states. I bought them yesterday and compared them at a cafe to my custom molded Westones (with the complete block filters in, not the filters that let sound through).
Surprisingly the $5 foam Hearos block out more sound than the Westones. Then again, the Westones are made to let some sound in so u can hear everything more clearly just at lower db.
Anyways here’s the link to the Hearos:
http://www.hearos.com/products/extreme-protection
What’s fun is that dB is not a “linear scale”.
The difference between 100 dB and 110 dB is insane in terms of perceptible volume.
The difference between 10 dB and 20 dB is super small.
Therefore, as you don’t know at what dB the earplugs have been calibrated to state “-20dB”, you can’t affirm they will reduce 100 dB to 80.
If they have been tested in a lab and are -20dB at 150 dB, wear them and you’ll not hear anything.
If they have been tested in a lab and are -20dB at 30 dB, they won’t affect your perception of music in a festival in terms of volume.
To sum up, I’d say take the highest possible, having a tinnitus or even worse for life isn’t funny believe me.
PS : if anyone has an idea how is the calibration made ? Is there a rule about this or something ?