Hearing Protection other than earmuff style

Looking for hearing protection other than the traditional earmuff style (yes I know they are more efficient).

Prefer the ear plug type, relatively inexpensive so I can purchase a couple of backup sets.

Shooting outdoors, 98% of the time alone, 38 revolver


Thanks

Have you heard about the custom fit earplugs? They offer more dB blocking than standard earplugs.

https://www.protectear.com/us/custom-vs-plugs/

I heard there used to be someone at Camp Perry who sold them too.

Research by the military found fresh disposable foam earplugs inserted correctly gave very good protection. The downside to this is you need to have clear and clean ear canals for comfort and the ear plugs need to be inserted deep, like hard-to-grab-to-remove deep.

The filtering provided by foam earplugs is not the same as the filtering of muffs, so using both together works well.

I had a set of custom molded ear plugs made but found the disposable foam ear plugs did a better job of blocking sound.

(Example research paper: https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a455113.pdf )

CIGARETTE FILTERS!
BEEN USING THEM FOR YEARS!

https://smile.amazon.com/Radians-Custom-Molded-Earplugs-Orange/dp/B003A28P0M/

$12

The trick is to squirt the goo DEEP into your ear canal. I use a 5 or 10 cc syringe. (You get OK but not great results packing the goo in with your fingers.) After it sets for 15 minutes or so, take them out and let them cure for 24 h. Then trim a small amount off the part that was deep in your ear, since it'll be a little irregular.

Super comfortable. I can wear mine for 8 or 10 hours straight without discomfort. And really excellent sound attenuation. In and out in a couple seconds vs the sometimes-struggle to get foamies to seat deep enough to give their rated protection.

I would trim a bit off of the end before use. You don’t want anything in direct contact with your eardrum.

james r chapman wrote:CIGARETTE FILTERS!
BEEN USING THEM FOR YEARS!

So when you hear that someone is "smoking' on the long line" you'll know they didn't light up?

I've tried many, many, many ear plugs over the past few years. BY FAR the best I've used are Decibulz. You have to heat them in warm water and mold them to fit your ear,  very easy. they work very well. I double plug most of the time, but outdoors, they are all that is really needed. 

NRR=31. the nice part is you can remold them to better fit your ears if needed. Mine took twice to get right, but I've been using them 3-5 times per week for two years and they're still working well.  I didn't mess with the "percussive filters". They are foam and a pita to use.

Radians work, but they were mire of a challenge for me to get a good mold, and they started to fall apart after a year if heavy use.

I worked my whole career in a high noise environment (power plant) in addition to shooting all my life and have used every type of hearing protection out there. I have not found any in the ear protection that works and is comfortable. I am still using the first pair of David Clark muffs I bought from Gil Hebard in the early 70’s because they work and are comfortable.

Been using this model earplugs for the past 30-odd years or so.  Soft orange tapered plugs that are packed  sealed in pairs of plastic bags. Work very well for me for pistol/shotgun/chain sawing, etc.  Very reasonably priced in bulk (200 pair package) at about 10-11 cents a pair on Amazon. (so if you're a prime customer, shipping is covered). I believe the NRR is29.

I DO however, wear them under my muffs for big bore indoor shooting.  They are quite comfortable for wear, and at 10 cents a pop, there's no reason to mess around with reuse.  Since I assume a $21 box of 200 might be a bit much for trial, the page offers an option of 25 pair pack for $7.00.  (which jacks the price up to 25 cents per pair).

https://www.amazon.com/3M-1100-Foam-Plugs-200-Pair/dp/B008MVYL7C/ref=pd_lpo_2?pd_rd_i=B008MVYL7C&psc=1

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