I'm ridiculously sensitive to noise of any sort. This can cause friction with others who like to do things in places that my condition will not allow (at least not without making me so surly that I'm no fun to be with).
I think I might have found a solution: The ETY ER*20s.
They're earplugs that attenuate sound evenly across the frequencies of audible sound. Regular earplugs damp noise aggressively at the upper frequencies. This is great when you want to hear nothing (like heavy machinery), but not so great when you're at a concert (or a coffee shop), because they essentially render you deaf.
Putting a pair of ER*20's in your ears is like turning down the world's volume knob by 20db. It's like saying "Shhhhh" to everything. Which is what I want!
Musicians use them to protect their hearing while retaining their ability to play in tune. I'll see if they increase my ability to do stuff with people I like where they like to go.
