E R 20s

...for the serious musician and concert goer!

E R 20 features
-Low cost
-Ready-fit (one-size-fits-most) *
-Replicates the ear's natural response (high fidelity)
-Sound quality is preserved
-Speech is clear, not muffled
-Reduces sound approximately 20 dB at all frequencies **

The goal of the E R 20 was the same as for Musicians Earplugs: to reduce noise but preserve sound quality; in effect, to turn down the noise but not muffle voices, environmental sounds or music.

Product Includes:
-High Fidelity Earplugs
-Carrying Case
-Instructions

* If you need E R 20 quality earplugs to fit a child, petite male or female, consider the E R 20 Baby Blues!

** The EPA requires manufacturers to print a noise reduction rating (NRR) on all non-custom earplugs. The NRR for E R 20s is 12 dB, but actual clinical measurements of properly inserted ER•20s indicate that these earplugs provide almost equal sound reduction (20 dB) at all frequencies in real ears. The required formula used to determine NRR includes an adjustment for individual variability and for those persons who do not wear ear protection as instructed. Many investigators have found no consistent rank order correlation between the real-world NRRs and labeled NRRs. NRR is computed from laboratory data that are not representative of the values attained in the real world by actual users.

Tech Info:
E R 20 Plugs use a patented tuned resonator and acoustic resistor that replicate the natural response of the open ear so that sound heard with these earplugs is as clear as the original, just quieter.


Importance of Hearing Protection:
Hearing loss is a function of exposure time, the average sound level, and the peak level of very loud sounds. Exposure to excessive noise from industrial machinery, heavy construction equipment and vehicles, power tools, aircraft, gunfire, motorcycle and auto race tracks, dental drills, sporting events, fireworks, rock concerts, marching bands, and music from a player's own instrument or nearby instruments can cause hearing loss depending on the intensity and duration of the noise. Some persons seem more susceptible to hearing loss from high-level sound than others.

Some workers obviously need high-attenuation earplugs. Shipbuilders, flight crew who stand behind jet aircraft on the flight deck, and army tank operators usually fall in this category. Such individuals can't get enough attenuation for proper protection even with plugs and earmuffs combined. But, many industrial workers can be adequately protected with as little as 10 dB of attenuation: the majority of eight-hour equivalent noise exposures fall between 85 and 95 dB. Some of these workers receive earplugs that provide too much attenuation, and as a result they do not insert them deeply in their ears because they can not hear speech clearly enough. These persons risk hearing damage, but have compromised so they have auditory awareness of sounds around them.

The cochlea has two types of hair cells, inner and outer. The outer hair cells appear to provide the ear's sensitivity to hear quiet sounds. Inner hair cells appear to provide all the information to the brain. It has been suggested that high-intensity noise causes extensive damage to the inner and outer hair cells; long-term lower-level noise causing the same audiometric loss may show predominately outer hair cell loss. What this implies is that the type of noise a person is exposed to may determine the severity of communication problems h/she eventually demonstrates.

Tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and temporary hearing loss can occur from a single concert, sporting event or sudden loud noise like a firecracker. In rare cases, permanent hearing loss results from such auditory insults. Even if a temporary hearing loss recovers over a period of hours to days, there is a risk that repeated exposure to loud noise will result in permanent hearing loss.

Hearing loss from exposure to loud sound affects millions of people. Noise-induced hearing loss is easily prevented, but not curable.

Sound Exposure Allowance Chart: