There are few products that are TRULY AMAZING: This is one of them.
Let me preface this my saying this is how my concert experience usually ends up: We arrive early so my wife can be right up front so she can be there when the main act comes on stage (rock/metal concerts). By the time the opening act is done everything sounds sort of muffled, almost has a digital feel to it.. By the time the final band is playing it's all just a mess of sounds and muffled everything. Once we leave the venue is when I can hear the truly bad tinnitus and the ride home consist of having to turn the radio up to double volume and even then I can barely hear the treble or anything but a ringing and the bass of the music. This tinnitus and muffled hearing will make sleeping that night nearly impossible and will stay with me for at LEAST 2 years.<br /><br />Finally being tired of this and knowing one day my hearing may never come back, I read the reviews and gave these DownBeats a chance and I am blown away. Normally I can not stand stand earbuds that go into the ear so I was worried about earplugs in general. Surprisingly, I had no issues with these earplugs; they didn't feel unnatural and didn't annoy me when they were in. What really got me with these was how I kept feeling like I didn't have them in properly as I could still hear everything around me, converse normally with my wife between acts, and the music seemed as loud as it normally does but that's where they're magnificent. The ONLY way I knew these were in was when i spoke, I sounded much louder than I normally would to myself. I also loved how they're practically invisible unless you know to look for them. Another thing that steered me away from the standard &#34;orange foam&#34; earplugs was how dorky some people look with them in. I was much less self-conscious with these things in.<br /><br />Many aspects of the concert still seemed rather loud to the point where I kept checking to make sure these were inserted properly and they always were. There were even parts of the concert that were still overwhelmingly loud. By the time the final act came on I could hear perfectly fine; no discernible ringing, no muffled sounds, and no &#34;digitizing&#34; of background noises. It wasn't until we left the venue, got in the car, and I removed the earplugs that I was truly amazed: I had minimal to no tinnitus. The radio was at the normal volume it always is and I almost couldn't believe I just went through a concert that felt as &#34;loud as normal&#34; with no perceivable side effects.<br /><br />How these things manage to keep volume levels at perceptibly normal levels and yet still protect your hearing is truly a marvel. I chuckled when the instructions said &#34;it's science!&#34; but it's true; these things are nothing short of miraculous and I deeply thank whatever scientist(s) made it their life's work to create these things.I no longer have to worry about going deaf before I hit 35.
Rating: 5 stars