So, how effective are the different pipe designs inside each of the earplugs? I asked Davies to comment on them, as well as Jérémie Voix, a professor at École de Technologie Supérieure in Montreal who leads the NSERC-EERS Industrial Research Chair in In-Ear Technologies (CRITIAS). This will give less attenuation than traditional foam plug but lets them design the filter shape to some extent," Davies says. This is how we get products that claim to reduce some sounds, but not all of them. However, Davies says "the exercise seems to be accompanied by variable amounts of pseudoscience and marketing guff."

At the first position, there’s no filter, which means you can hear as normal. At the second, some sound is reduced, the third reduces sound a little more, and the fourth creates a near-silent environment – well, depending on where you are and what’s around you. An electric drill, a screaming infant, the relentless drip of a leaky tap. Some sounds are universally annoying. But for people with auditory sensitivities, sounds which many take for granted can be a source of irritation, distress and even pain. They also, mostly, delivered on their promise of reducing some louder sounds whilst allowing me to hear others. This is vital if these are going to be worn for more extended periods and not prove to be prohibitive for socialising or staying safe.

The verdict: Loop Earplugs essential earplugs

However, the earplug brands I’ve been testing made other adjustments to the design of the pipe, like changing its shape, filling it, adding extra pipes or adding material to it. There hasn't been much research comparing different products and seeing which ones are most helpful," she explains, "And in the long term, whether they reduce stress. I think that's definitely a need that still exists." Research like this is an essential step in learning more about individual hearing needs. It could also help to make more specific, personalised recommendations for certain audio sensitivity profiles in the future. I enjoyed wearing the Loop Experience earplugs. I did hear conversations and music through them well, but everything else sounded muffled and reduced. That means I wouldn’t feel safe going outside with these – I might miss important traffic sounds. But they provided me with some much-needed peace so I could work, effectively reducing the sound of the fan on my desk, as well as the construction noise that was going on across the street.

I didn’t have a chance to try the Loop Experience at a concert – they’re sensory overload minefields for me – but I can imagine these would be firm winners for festivals and gigs. Davies tells me these earplugs are examples of passive acoustic filter design – passive means there's no active electronics on board. He explains these designs use the same principles as the silencer on a car exhaust in an old-fashioned car with a combustion engine. The repeated claim that Calmer removes distortion isn’t a sensible way of summarising what the product does. I think it would be more accurate to say that Calmer reduces the level of mid- to high-frequency sound by a noticeable, but not a large, amount,” Davies says. Davies explains that the physical mechanism at work here is different to the other earplugs. “The Calmer alters the acoustic resonance of the ear canal (present in all typical ears) mainly by changing the shape of the airspace in the canal when inserted.” Although this design does work to attenuate some sound, we need to be wary of some assertions about these earplugs.verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{