[Jeff Higgins]

I spent a long career in often extremely high noise environments. If you guys want noise, try the "wing line" inside a large aircraft manufacturer's factory. Aluminum wing panels stood vertically (leading or trailing edge up or down) with about twenty guys, all with rivet guns hammering away on the damn thing in unison. Decibel levels approaching 130 on the dB "A" scale.

We found, over many years of extensive testing, that noise cancelling headsets were the most effective. Kind of a PIA to wear under a lot of circumstances, however. Next best are just the simple, cheap, generic foam ear plugs. No kidding. Some guys swore by muffs over plugs, but testing revealed very little was gained by "layering" protection like that.

Bottom line, those silly little cheap foamies work as well as anything, and better than a lot of things. If you are having trouble with them falling out, it's entirely because you are not inserting them correctly. The high dollar custom plugs, in controlled testing where I used to work, fared no better. They can, however, be more comfortable for some. That is their only advantage. And yes, I did find the foamies uncomfortable after several hours of continuous wear. Most of us, however, outside of a manufacturing environment, will not keep them in continuously for anywhere near that length of time.