Customer Reviews

Etymotic Research ER20 High-Fidelity Earplugs (Baby Blue with Clear Stem)

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I have a brain injury and as a result am extremely sensitive to light and sound. I have a pair of regular sized and baby blue size ear buds. I LOVE THEM. I wear them anytime I leave my house (and anytime it's a bit noisy in my house) I can hold conversations in loud restaurants and groups and I don't get headaches or tired as quickly. I even wore them to Vegas and I can't tell you the difference these little babies made for me. My ears were a bit sore after the second or third day of wearing them for days on end, but other than that I am extatic with my purchse and would recommend them to anyone!

I got these hoping that I could use them when mixing at especially loud shows. I got them in the mail three days ago and I've brought them out twice now. They definitely alter the sound significantly and I won't use them for anything but punk rock.
Frequencies are cut unevenly as is shown on the reading material which comes with the plugs... and the chart only goes up to 8k. I think that highs above this are cut significantly more than others and the lows become significantly more muffled than the highs- which losses the attack of the kick and bass more than a guitar for example.
I did find that by playing with them and pulling them a little further out than I would normally wear plugs that the low's had more definition but that the highs were still cut unevenly, plus I doubt that this got me more than a 5 db overall gain reduction. Still though 5 db is something, especially where high volume is concerned (a 5db cut at 100db is a significant larger reduction in actual power compared to 5db at 90db since db is logarithmic). I would wear these to see shows and probably even as a musician... but I will have to find another way to protect my hearing at work.
Everyone under 20 years of age who is interested in keeping their sensitivity to frequencies above 10k sharp should always wear these in live environments... the rest of us should as well if the show is above 95 common db and we can get away with it. If you are at a loud show for a long time and you can barely hear your friend shouting right next to you, you can be sure that you are permanently loosing your sensitivity to certain frequencies. So take care!

These are the smaller size version of the hearing protection plugs. These hearing protection plugs are marketed as offering 20 dB sound reduction at all frequencies. I tested them with measurement grade microphones on a HATS (Head and Torso Simulator - artificial head) and found they meet or exceed this specification overall. Most hearing protection devices attenuate the higher frequencies more than the lower frequencies making speech and other sounds muffled. These offer fairly equal broadband attenuation which is more like simply turning the volume down rather than turning down the "treble" settings on a stereo. I was considering a "musicians" ear which is a custom set of earplugs with filter to attenuate broadband sound, but cost much more. The only disadvantage is that they stick out somewhat from the ear. Come with a nice case and string to keep them together as a pair.

At today's live music events, the sound engineers are criminal. They are permanently harming every member of their audience with each event. How this hasn't been addressed in legislation is beyond me. It doesn't have to be hard rock music either. It's everything.

But they won't be harming you if you wear ear plugs. And if you wear Etymotic ear plugs, you won't be missing out on any of the music.

Foam earplugs protect fine, but they don't make a level reduction across the audible frequencies. These are a much more level reduction and the music will sound great.

The only difference is that your ears won't be muffled or ringing from permanent hearing damage after the show.

These "baby blues" are for smaller ear canals. I have a giant head but for some reason I have small ear canals and these are great. A few minutes after insertion I get a kind of itchy feeling in my ears which is solved by lightly tapping on my ear right next to the plugs. Then a few minutes later, I don't feel a thing and am in comfort for the rest of the show.

Don't be an idiot, buy these.

Yeah, I bought both sizes--the standard size first. And boy was that a mistake. I found that I had to shove them painfully into my ears to get the maximum level of sound reduction. Still, I like them enough that I decided to buy the Baby Blues.

And they fit perfectly on the first try, effortlessly.

I'd recommend that you purchase these Baby Blues FIRST before stepping up to the Standard sized ER20s, because you can insert the Baby Blues deeply into a typical sized ear canal and get maximum sound reduction much more easily than you can force fit the Standard size into a smaller ear canal. In other words, since you essentially face a 50/50 chance that either the Baby Blues or the Standards will fit, you might as well go with the ones that can work well enough even if they don't fit perfectly: the Baby Blues.

+4 for effectiveness (dropping decibels)
+1 for value for your money (vs the personal molded earplugs)
-1 for aesthetics (the little stems make you look a little dorky but you can easily recognize other ety wearers- hi there!)

I use these in club/blasting music situations on a weekly basis. They seem to fit fine, don't fall out, and I can still hear ppl speaking/yelling as well as the music.

I've been using the regular size ER-20 plugs for several years now and always found them effective but not very comfortable. Baby Blues were the answer to my problem. Never mind my height or weight, the plugs were just too big to be comfortable. The smaller size amounts to a big improvement, for me at least.

Great sound engineering at a great price! These little gems do a great job of protecting your hearing, while still providing a pretty good sound balance. Plus, they're easy to insert into small ear canals and very comfortable to wear...even over an extended time period.

These are great. They reduce the sound coming into your ears very well while keeping the frequency response and clarity about the same. Things don't sound so muffled, just quieter. They also fit in my ears better than the bigger ones that Etymotic Research offers since they are a bit smaller.

Went to this seriously loud concert. Stood in the front row and was able to enjoy all the details of the music without any hearing damage or ringing in the ears. Don't get me wrong, it sounded loud. The plugs just reduce the sound, instead of muffling it. This baby size was very comfortable and allowed me to tighten them when I thought it was needed. Plus, you can clean them and reuse. Great value!