64 lines
3.5 KiB
Markdown
64 lines
3.5 KiB
Markdown
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---
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title: "Silence is essential"
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date: 2022-11-23T00:00:00+01:00
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slug: earplugs
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categories:
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- misc
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tags:
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- english
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- life
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summary: A good pair of custom ear plugs is surprisingly cheap and will help you stay sane when murphy strikes
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showtoc: false
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---
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Since mid-August, I own a custom-made pair of soft silicon ear plugs.
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In the few months of owning these I came across quite a few situations where they were incredibly handy.
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A custom-made pair of ear plugs has a few advantages over one-size-fits-all pairs.
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For one, they fit perfectly and become almost unnoticeable after a few minutes of wear and sit flush with your ears.
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Depending on the material, they even are soft enough to sleep on without a feeling of pressure on your ear.
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This is a huge plus, even when compared to the "softer" off-the-shelf solutions on the market which only work for some people.
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They are easy to clean and are said to be long-lasting.
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## A few situations
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When I have my backpack on me, there is about a 95% chance that I have my earplugs with me.
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In the other 5% I probably needed them the night before and rushed out the house in the morning :p
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### Forgot my headphones on a train journey
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One time I had to really rush out of the house to catch the last train of the day. When the tram arrived I reached down around my neck to put on my headphones... only to find them missing.
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In the rush I left them on my desk, dooming myself to a music less 6-hour journey.
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This could have been really annoying as my fellow travelers included a few crying children as well as a quite loud train.
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Luckily, I at least had my earplugs on me. So I put them in and continued reading a book in almost silence while the people around me had to endure the surrounding noise.
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That day I got reminded again how effective they are in reducing noise when inserted correctly.
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In a quieter car I really had to concentrate quite hard onto the announcement to get what they were saying.
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Since then, it's been a coin toss if I will listen to music or have the earplugs in during a long train ride.
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### Hot summers and open windows
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During summer my flat tends to become unusually hot. This is in part due to the city I live in being incredibly sunny and my flat having quite a lot of roof area.
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As a consequence, I have to leave the windows open at night to find any sleep during summer.
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Summer nights are usually very busy, and I live close to a tram line, so there are some nights which can be noisy.
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Ear plugs keep me sane in those weeks :)
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### Sports and parties
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Summer comes with a lot of sports tournaments which are broadcast on television as well as parties.
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Many of those are announced and known well in advance, but sometimes they come with very inopportune timing.
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For example, the night right before and exam when enough sleep is already difficult to find...
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... and a dozen other situations where I just wanted to keep sleeping. Including, loud children in them morning, workers drilling holes into walls a few rooms over, etc.
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### A break from society
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Meeting lots of people is nice and fun, but doing that all day in a louder environment like a conference can be quite draining.
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You don't want to go home yet, or can't, but you'd really enjoy a short break.
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That's when you plug your ears, sit down with a beverage and just zone out for a bit[^1].
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[^1]: Just be prepared for the world to be very noisy for a few moments when unplugging afterwards...
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At the time of writing my neighborhood is surprisingly loud which prompted me to put in my ear plugs and get this article started :)
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