Ear plugs

[alloutofcareunits]

Can anyone recommend ear plugs, I’ve looked at the Loop ones but not sure how good they are. My neighbour plays the piano repeatedly almost all day, in the summer he has the patio doors open. I want to be able to sit and read in the garden without hearing the same piece of music played 2000000 times each day! He appears to have some memory/MH issues and is oblivious to the volume and impact. He’s a nice enough guy so no need to fall out over this.

I don't think the Loop ones work for everyone. I found them useless against my DH's guitar - they sort of dull it a bit, but can still hear it far too loudly. They were a waste of money for me. I feel your pain. The ones that work the best for me are called Hush Plugz Silicone (from Amazon). But they're still not perfect. Sometimes I use my DS's ear defenders (the kind that builders wear)!

But I do think it's unreasonable for him to play the piano with the doors open. No need to fall out, as you say, but couldn't you ask him to close the doors? Tactfully?

There are a few different types of Loops - some are designed to dull background noise but some block out a lot more for sleep. I have the sleep ones and really rate them. They come with different size tips so they’re they only earplugs that don’t fall out of my ears and actually form a seal. Second best are the wax kind IMO. Foam earplugs are completely useless.

I have Loop ones to sleep in and have found them genuinely life changing. It took a while to perfect putting them in to get a good comfortable seal. I used to get woken by every sound and now I don’t. I can still hear my morning alarm though, so they don’t block everything.

I'm not sure they would block out the neighbour. Would it be better to wear noise cancelling headphones?

I love my Loops, they're the Experience ones and I can stand next to the speakers at a gig and not have ringing ears the next morning! Once they're in properly (insert and twist) they're really comfy for hours but I'm not sure they'd block him out, more likely just dampen the sound.

Thanks everyone, I’ll have a proper read through recommendations tomorrow @AgentPidgei agree and have raised issues before when he was regularly emptying his dishwasher at 3am with the doors open (kitchen/open plan area where his piano is) and my adult DD bedroom was next to the doors where she had her window open during summer. He was very apologetic and apologised directly to her in the street. The difficulty is he appears to have some MH and alcohol issues which affect his memory. He has taken on board my comments about not playing before 8am or after 10pm but often forgets. However, compared to neighbours with young kids screeching in the garden (which I have had before) he’s not bad. I feel a bit sorry for him, complicated family issues. He had a very successful career as a lawyer and is a highly competent pianist but his life has taken a downward turn…. I’ll try the recommendations.

You're being incredibly understanding, OP. I'd have gone round and slammed the lid shut on his fingers!
not really, but I'd want to!

@AgentPidgeoh Ive fantasised about that many times, as well as breaking in and cutting the strings on his piano 😂
my other neighbour plays the violin but only for 30 min which is perfectly reasonable. My DH plays electric and acoustic guitar, but also for 30-45 min at a time. It’s the relentless practicing that is a problem, it’s often 5-10 min at a time but that happens 20-30 times a day!!

I use Loops and they dull the noise, however they amplify your own internal sounds and you can hear your own breathing and it sounds louder, you can hear yourself swallowing etc. I personally found this quite annoying and even more annoying than the initial noise I wanted to block out.

Just wanted to let you know as I’d never heard anyone mention this before I bought them which I found surprising afterwards.

@Ponchethats interesting, thanks. Which ones do you have?

@alloutofcareunits I’ve got the Loops Engage 2.

@Ponchethank you

I know Loops work for a lot of people and they’re probably a good introduction to see if you like the idea of earplugs. I tend to use over the ear headphones now, but previously had custom moulded earplugs which were brilliant (from Specsavers, don’t know if they still do them as it was a few years ago). I have weird shaped ear canals so Loop and other off the shelf earplugs don’t work for me.

Before I used to use AirPods (either listened to music or just white noise), but I lost one so got the Loops instead. So that may be another option?

I bought loops with high hopes and they’re very disappointing.

My in ear Sony headphones do better even without playing anything.

Thanks everyone, I’ve tried my iPods and they make some difference but not a lot, fine if I want to listen to music but not if I want to read. I’ve ordered the Loop quiet 2, they’re only £20 so if they don’t work it’s not much to spend. I sure they’ll help even if it just mutes the noise a bit