Basic Definition and Classic Types of Ear Plugs
Ear plugs are the most widely used type of hearing protection, gehoorbescherming in Dutch, nowadays. Since they are very small and easy to carry, they are also very affordable. Basically, an ear plug is a device to be placed or inserted at the opening of the ear canal. It is purposed to protect the ear from loud noises, intrusion of water, foreign bodies, dust or excessive wind. Some plugs are specially designed for specific purposes. For example, swimmers can use the swimming ear plugs while others who suffer from loud snores of their partner in bed can use the sleeping plugs for the ear. These hearing protective devices or gehoorbeschermers as we say, are commonly made up of silicone, rubber or wax. However, you can also devise your own ear plugs by wetting a cotton ball with petroleum jelly. It has been found out that it can keep more water out the ear than wax plugs and silicone plugs. But to be talking technically and specifically, there are three types of ear plugs sold in the market today. These types include foam, silicone and flanged ear plugs. Foam plugs for the ear are mainly composed of memory foam that are easy to compress and can be totally formed to be inserted not only to the opening of the ear canal but rather to whole ear canal. Silicone plugs on the other hand are a little bit expensive than foam plugs. These are silicones that are rolled into balls and are mainly designed to fit into the opening ear canal to muffles sounds. Flanged plugs for the ear are the last class of ear plugs. Musicians are the number one user of this type of ear plugs. These plugs are commonly named as Hi-Fi hearing protective device because they are fashioned in such a way that the wearer can still recognize every sound at his environment without being bothered by the noise. Another comfort of using these plugs is that they are easy to maintain and clean since they come in small sizes. By now, at least you have learned the three basic types of ear plugs, see oordoppen, that you can use.
