Etymotic MusicPro Elite - Rechargeable High-Fidelity Electronic Musician Earplugs with Active Hearing Protection - Includes Multiple Eartips + Water-Resistant Portable Recharging Case

I am musical theater woodwind player who ends up in front of the brass or the drummer’s cymbals and I love these! They allow me to hear my fellow players naturally, but when the volume gets really loud they kick in and start attenuating the volume to keep it below 90db and you hardly notice the attenuation, just nice happy ears at the end the gig!

I wasn't expecting much from these ear plugs, and was very hesitant to purchase due to the price. But I was desperate to do something, and the next step would have been to see an audiologist specializing in musicians. I'm an amateur guitarist who rehearses twice a week in a studio with a drum set to my immediate left, and a keyboardist/singer who can't help from overdriving his vocals and keys to my right. I've developed tinnitus over the last two years and I've never been able to suitably hear myself when using earplugs. Playing without ear plugs is simply no longer an option due to the constant pain in my ears during rehearsals. I first tried these plugs at my daughter's cheer event and wasn't impressed at all. I could hear people talking near me but I didn't feel that it cut down the sound level enough to make-up for the sound deadening it caused. But once I used them in rehearsal, I instantly heard the benefits. I never once winced when the drummer hammered on a drum or symbol, or when the singer hit the highs. I could also hear my playing much better than with standard plugs. I also didn't have to take them out to communicate with the rest of the band. They're certainly not perfect, but I can't imagine something working much better than these. They do take a little getting used-to, especially the fact that the two plugs are not synchronized. So, sometimes I get a kind-of balancing effect where the sound levels alternate back and forth on each side independently. It was a bit jarring the first few times I heard it, but now that I am prepared for it, it is no big deal, and it usually dies down quickly. My only other "complaint" is that they do irritate my ear canal when inserted. However I have the exact same complaint with any other standard silicone ear plug when inserted all the way. I just don't know how deep I really need to insert ear plugs to keep them physically stable and eliminate any gaps. Wetting them a bit before insertion helps. All in all, I feel this was well worth the money. It will save my ears and allow me to get a much more accurate feel of my own playing.

Was very promising, seemed to work well until I discovered the battery in one ear drained MUCH faster than the other. Contacted the manufacturer to figure out what was going on, and was told that there was no warranty offered for these ordered through Amazon. Send them back and purchased directly from the manufacturer, and they now work great, plus have a full warranty.

I'm a professional musician, and suffer from Tinnitus. For years I've worn different passive earplugs, which provided protection in high volume settings, but often left me feeling isolated, especially between songs, or in rehearsals. If someone spoke, I'd need to remove at least one earplug to hear them. With these, I'm able to feel more connected during quiet times, but protected when I need it. It comes with different tip sizes to customize your fit. The compression works great - the bass response is pretty weak, though... but the positive aspects make that simmering I've learned to deal with.

I got my first pair of custom-molded earplugs with ER filters about 30 years ago. I didn't do any research. The musician's union's health plan provided new custom molds and filters every other year, and those things were state-of-the-art. On loud live gigs I'd use them, but almost always took them out if I needed to play something exposed and I wanted to feel comfortable, negating the whole point of using hearing protection. This was about the best I could do. I'm using in-ear monitors at least half the time anyway, which can solve most problems. Having stumbled upon these plugs online, I couldn't believe I'd never heard of them (and I've owned ER stuff!). Reading the description and the reviews, I thought, "No way. No audiologist, not to mention many, many professional musicians, has ever mentioned these ear plugs to me, nor have I ever noticed anyone using them! I did not know such a thing existed. That can't possibly work as advertised or everyone would be using them." They work as advertised. They solve a lot of problems for me. I've not had the opportunity to use them in every situation, but in the 3 or 4 different situations I've tried them, they work as advertised. I can actually put them in and just leave them in for the night. The 15db (LO) mode is a MUCH clearer version of the custom molds w/ER 15db filters. I can hear and understand talking clearly, but my ears are protected from loud sound levels. Today I played in a brass quartet. I put the plugs in and set them on HI on the way over. I had them in through the entire session and it felt easy and comfortable to play. I had to learn (over a long period of time) how to work with plugs in, out of survival. These don't present such a learning curve. It's not the same as using nothing, but I don't feel like I'm underwater with earmuffs on. I wish I'd had these 30 years ago! These have settings to make them 15db, 9db and something like 30db when powered off. I may have custom molds made for these, but thus far I am very happy with the supplied tips. These plugs work as advertised.

I've been drumming live for 30+ years, mostly small to medium club gigs, but occasionally bigger rooms and very rarely, arenas. I play in everything from jazz to rock to country to punk to..... Over the years I've done a fair amount of permanent damage to my hearing - 50dB loss at 2 kHz - (I need to wear hearing aids daily) and am now trying to protect what I have left. Starting from the beginning of my career, I've used foam earplugs (irregularly, because they suck), then custom ear molds with Etymotic ER-15 or ER-25 filters (more regularly, but they suck just a little - muddy sound), but lately, after a large unexpected feedback blast that deafened one ear for about a month, I've been looking for something that provides a clean enough sound that I can wear them comfortably and it doesn't affect my playing. I received these active ear plugs in July of 2022, and it's now about 5 months later, and I am greatly impressed by them. They are by no means perfect, but they are miles above the custom molds with the ER filters. Others have stated the limiter clipping on some loud spikes like a ride cymbal bell are annoyingly noticeable, but I've found that unless that cymbal ping sound occurs in isolation, I don't detect the clipping sound with all the other sound coming through. With the included silicon ear tips in 3 different sizes, I was able to find a pair that fit me well, but do to the long sound tube, the weight of the plugs causes them to slowly slip out of the ear canal, and eventually unfiltered sound is sneaking past the plugs. The included foam tips are on the large side, so it's a challenge to fit them into my smaller ears, but they do seam to create a more reliable fit. I've never come even close to draining the batteries on these. At the end of a gig, when I put them back in the case, they indicate a 90% charge remaining, and I've never seen the charging case go below 90% after several gigs. The most I've gone without plugging in the case to charge is a month, averaging about 8 to 10 gigs in that month. One issue for me, considering I already have hearing loss, and normally wear hearing aids, is that when I take the hearing aids out (which amplify the high frequencies I've lost) and put in these plugs, the sound is bass heavy in comparison. I'm currently investigating some In Ear monitors with built-in ambient mics, limiter and EQ control as a protection/monitoring solution. It's a bit more complicated, and the price is a significant increase over these ER Music Pro Elite plugs, but with what hearing I've already lost, it may be the ultimate solution for me. If you haven't already destroyed your ears like I have mine, these Etymotic plugs may be the perfect solution for you.

Classic rock bassist and vocalist in a regularly gigging band. So far I've had these for a couple months and used them five or six times. They are miraculous. I can hear those around me when the band's not playing and when it is playing I get the same or better protection as I got with 32db reduction 3M foam plugs which were much more uncomfortable and had hindered hearing the music. With these I can hear myself sing clearly as well as hear cues from the drummer and guitarists. Assuming these have a decent usage lifetime - at least a few years of regular gigging - I'll never look back. I use the gray memory foam attachments and usually set on the higher sound reduction mode (descending beeps). I will pick up additional memory foam attachments in case the current ones wear out. What a life saver. Wish I could give these six stars!

Used in a very very loud live music setting and was impressed with their performance. Took some getting used to the adaptive compression at first but once I got used to it these were a game changer. One thing I will note is the stock earplug tips that come with them are not great. Mushroom flange tips don’t seal well and foam tips were kind of coarse and irritated my ear canal after extended use. I put some Shure memory foam tips on that I had lying around and they were way way more comfortable I wore them for a 3 hour long concert and barely had to adjust them. Overall if you are a musician/DJ or frequent live music events these are a must have and pay for themselves in how well they protect your ears while maintaining a true audio experience.