Patent ID: 8820470

Claim:
An adjustably attenuating ear plug adapted for use within an ear canal, for facilitating manual manipulation by a user, and for variably exposing the canal to an ambient environment, said ear plug comprising: a flexible body defining an elongated shape, a longitudinal tunnel, and internal and external surfaces, and configured so as to be at least partially inserted within the canal when the ear plug is donned; and a valve assembly communicatively coupled to the tunnel, manually adjustable, and operable to selectively expose the canal to the environment, wherein the valve assembly includes a knob, and a disk slidingly engaged with and translatable relative to the knob, the knob defines at least one inlet, the disk alternatively defines at least one shield and at least one hole, said at least one inlet and hole are selectively alignable, so as to selectively expose the canal to the environment, and said at least one inlet and shield are selectively alignable so as to selectively occlude the canal from the environment, wherein the disk further defines at least one protruding stop, the knob further defines at least one travel guard, said at least one stop and guard are alternately positioned and cooperatively configured, so as to be selectively caused to engage during, and thereby limit, relative translation between the knob and disk.