Best buy of the year: Loop Earplugs

When life is too noisy, get some Loops earplugs to smooth it out!

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Loud environments, noises from cars or unruly neighbours are in general a major stress factor for me and actually millions of people. The level of noise pollution we are facing nowadays is presenting a health issue, not jus for our ears but actually for our sanity.

As I have stated before, and again, I have unruly neighbours. As soon as they are home, they sound like trapped wild animals are destroying the place, while trying to escape. It is bad for my nerves, my sanity and my productivity. When all I want is a quiet evening, reading a book while sipping tea, hearing the banging on the walls drives me nuts!

And so I thought I should try the Loop earplugs. Yes, Insta made me do it! And I am thankful! Every now and then, good things come from social media.

My first loops and my challenging beginnings!

The first Loop I got are the experience plus ones.

I have mismatched ear canals which means my slightly smaller ear canal usually get sensitive after a while, when wearing my regular foam earplugs. What I found really cool with the Loop earplugs, was that the set came with several sizes of ear tips. You get to choose what fits best and mismatch the sizes if required.

I instantly mounted the Loop Mute for the additional 5 dB noise reduction and absolutely never removed them. What is called the Loop Mute is the little additional ring that goes in the middle. Mine are white but there are different colours.

At first it took me a bit of time to adjust. You see at first, it is surprising, when you are used to wearing foam earplugs, as I am. But as they state on their website, Loops work differently.

To quote them: “Most earplugs muffle tones because they block sound waves. Loop Experience earplugs combine a patented acoustic channel and mesh to filter them instead, keeping sound quality
clear. just at a reduced volume.“

Now, I have no clue how this works but I was used to the muffle sounds. I liked the muffle sounds! And when I first used my loops, I thought I was putting them on wrong. I thought maybe they wouldn’t work for me because the sounds weren’t muffled!

It took me a while to adjust and appreciate the difference.

My second Loops: the quiet

The quiet loops are slightly different as they are soft and bendy and do not have the additional little ring.

I got those to sleep with. I had my doubts, but I admit: they are comfortable! Even for a side sleeper like me.

Why did I get a second pair? 2 reasons: if I loose the first! And to replace my regular foam earbuds. The fact that you can wash them was the selling point to start with. I’m tired of buying regular earplugs as, not being able to wash them means they get dirty, simply being on your nightstand collecting dust.

Squishy! Perfect for sleeping even for side sleepers.

Will I go for a third pair of loops?

Loop recently came out with a new concept, the Switch. A 3 in one earplug where you can adjust the volume by turning the external ring. You can go from quiet to engaged which is the mode they recommend to keep speech clear for easier conversations. It looks super easy to switch between modes and I can see this new feature being extremely useful when out and about.

It is an interesting concept but I’m not sure I’ll go for it. Not now at least. If I get a third pair, it will probably be the quiet ones, but in a different colour because admittedly, I did not choose fun ones!

The downside of the loops now

I think it is great that you get different size of ear tips. At first at least. You get to use what fits your ears and this is paramount for efficiency and comfort.

However once you know your size, receiving all the different tips is a waste. It is time for Loop to offer a different packaging of their earplugs by removing the extra tips, for the ones of us who know which ones to use!

Maybe you can exchange the unused tips you have with someone who uses a different size than yours, I haven’t been able to do that. So I now have 2 boxes of unused tips.

The sound of breathing, sipping coffee or chewing

Autophony can be an issue with earplugs!

Autophony refers to the ability to hear your own body sounds, like breathing. Some people hear their heartbeats, some hear their blood rushing, some can’t stand their own footsteps when wearing earbuds.

Blocking external sounds to then being overwhelmed by the sounds of your own body can be counterproductive!

After years of using earbuds, I’m ok with most sounds. When paying attention to my breathing, I actually find it very southing to hear myself. However, I certainly refrain from chewing and swallowing food! This remains unpleasant, to say the least!

In short, I’m happy with my 2 different Loop sets!

I’m happy but let me just state that the war against noise is tiring and expensive! To combat the issue with my unruly neighbours, I have installed soundproofing panels in our building staircase and a soundproofing curtain in our entrance. These have been helpful (I’m obviously not happy to have to resort to such things to keep my peace).

And I have my Loop earplugs which are doing wonders. The Loop Experience plus for daytime and the Quiet one for sleeping. They solve my issues, for now. They are extremely comfortable, super easy to put on and once inserted, I instantly regain a sense of calm. It’s like magic to me and so I am extremely grateful that Insta made me do it!