I’m a senior in high school. I’ve always protected my hearing. My current earplugs are pretty shit. I plan on getting custom molded plugs at the end of the year before I go to college, but I have a lot of concerts before then (dinosaur jr, Meshuggah, and quicksand to name a few). What are the absolute best earplugs (for protection and quality) I can by off of Amazon.
The etymotics are good. Really, any plugs are good for protection, but the etymotics do allow fairly flat frequency response through so that you can enjoy yourself. The solid rule is the best hearing protection is the one you have when you need it. If you’re caught without hearing protection, DO find a napkin and ball it up tight such that it plugs your ears. It’s not the best protection, but it will help prevent damage. Dangerous levels of sound are cumulative and exposure time/amplitude is on a log scale. A typical concert can reach 110dB peaks and even stay at that level or louder continuously, depending on the music and the venue (small clubs are notorious). Use these as a guide. https://boomspeaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/decibel-chart-based-on-time-exposure.jpg https://www.captel.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/safe-vs-dangerous-decibel-levels-infographic-800x1598.jpg