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Concertgoer followers: would using our IEMs we use for everything be an acceptable substitute for buying earplugs for attending a concert? We know they would protect our hearing, the only question is really if they'd protect it too well.
@hikari no. you do not know what their actual attenutation propeties are, and they are certainly not offering you flat attenuation.
@hikari This is safety gear and needs to be tested for purpose. Your IEMs are not stage IEMs and hence are not tested for their ability to protect the ears from the effects of high SPLs
If you want something inexpensive & generic I recommend Etymotic Research/Elacin ER-20s (Sometimes sold as “Ety-Plugs”). The best option in terms of fit and isolation of course is custom molds; I have ACS earplugs with their 17dB flat filters (made by their German distributor)
@erincandescent ah, i see, that's all quite reasonable, however we will point out that unfortunately we strongly suspect that our IEMs are still better protection for our ears than both brands of cheap disposable foam earplugs we have been given before, because the former actually make a seal
@erincandescent this is not us trying to push back against your advice, we'll try to seek out appropriate high-quality earplugs, we merely note that for all you say about safety, the quality floor is tragically low here