Earplugs Review. No-Roll Foam Earplugs. Hear no evil...

Let those who want to hear, hear. For those who do not want to, well, you can use an earplug as an aid.

I've been busy studying for my exam for the past few days (maybe weeks) and I realized the importance of SILENCE.

Not only silence is important to me during my studies, but also during my bedtime. Why? Certain sound such as the footsteps of your family members, or the noisy revving of your neighbours' Subaru/Evo, or even the mating mourns of stray cats can disturb/disrupt my sleep.


To counter this, I use my faithfully foam ear plug, the EAR Taperfit2.

This is a extremely soft and gummy foam ear plug. Very effective at noise control. (More on that later). For foam earplug, you need to roll it into a small piece so that it can enter into your ear canal and expand to effectively block out (a certain level of)the noise. One slight disadvantage of Taperfit2 is that it expands rather quickly when rolled, hence you need to insert into the ear canal quickly (With 2sec).

For those who are new to earplug, I would like to say that foam earplug is the best available portable noise controlling equipment. Even active noise cancellation technology, custom fit silicone earplug and ear muff cannot beat this. Of course if you use a ear muff and a foam earplug, it is more effective than using any of the mentioned above. However, singular noise control, it is still foam.

However, there is the hygiene concern. If you roll the foam earplug with unclean hand, your ears may get infected. As such, I recently got a few sets of no-roll foam earplugs that do not require the use of hand to roll the foam into the ears, I will test out the effectiveness.

For sound reference, here is my control variable.
-Ear Taperfit2
-Window XP, full 100% volume
- Youtube Comedy Talk show @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOWlpvOPKXc 100% volume at the youtube software.
-Creative Gigaworks T3 @ 40% of the volume (considered loud)
-Sitting 1 m away from the speaker

So using my Taperfit2, the noise level was reduced approximately by 40%.

Note: I have average size ear canals.


Now let us take a look at the performance of no-roll foam.

1) EAR Express Pod Plugs (NRR25 - Higher the number, theoretically the better.)

The foam are soft but expand very fast. Small round head means that it does not go deep into your ear canal. In fact, it does sit just inside the ear.

Noise Reduction: 10%

Comfortable.



2) EAR Push-Ins ComforTip (NRR26)


Spongy big head with the foam characteristics the same as Express Pod. I cannot insert them inside them into my ear without them sliding out. As a result, they sit just outside my ears. Maybe these are for those who have HUGE ear canal. And I mean HUGE.

Noise Reduction 2%

Not Comfortable.



3) EAR Push-Ins (NRR28)
Slightly smaller head than Express Pod, again, same foam characteristics as Express Pod (not surprisingly since they are all from EAR). Cannot go deep into my ear canals.

Noise Reduction: 20%

Comfortable


4)Peltor Next No-Touch (NRR29)

Very soft foam. Softer than the above three. And more meat/foam. Insert deeper than the previous three.

Noise Reduction: 35%

Very Comfortable


5) Peltor Skull Screw (NRR30)

Interesting name. Not as meaty/foamy as Next No-Touch, but use the same foam as Next. Insert as deep as Next, but with a slight pain.

Noise Reduction: 35%

Comfortable


6) EAR Push_Ins With Grip Ring (NRR30)

Almost the same as Peltor Skull. Skull have a softer foam. Slight less deep than Skull.

Noise Reduction 30%

Comfortable.


7) EAR Softouch (NRR31)



Softest Foam among the EAR brand. Even though its head is bigger than skull or Grip Ring, it has a foam tip head, hence it is comfortable.

Noise Reduction: 35%

Comfortable.


Here are all 7 of them.






To conclude: out of all 7, I would choose Peltor Next No-Touch as it is the most comfortable among all of them and offer the highest noise reduction among the no-roll foam earplugs. Second in place are EAR SofTouch and Peltor Skull Screw. However, both their sizes mean wearing them overnight to sleep may not be comfortable.

Still, roll-down foam, in my opinion, is better. But still, if you have problem with hand hygiene or do not want the hassle of rolling and inserting the foam, no-roll foam can be a good alternative.