Earjobs Staff Review: Earlove Earplugs

Earlove Earplugs have arrived and with it, we’re reviving the Earjobs Staff Reviews, a segment where one of our Earjobs staff members (me!) and Verified Ear Plug Expert (seriously, we’ve tried a lot of ear plugs) gets ears-on with our latest hearing protection over a period of at least a week. In the very special case of the Earlove, it’s actually been a lot longer (several months in fact).

Now, first, a little background on the Earlove. This is an *Official Earjobs Product*. That is to say it has been designed and developed by the Earjobs team, which is something of a rarity among all the other Earjobs brands on offer. 

UNBOXING:

The Earlove box is a Tan colour with a cute little seventies style logo. Inside the box you'll find three different sized sets of tips, along with a small white carry case with Earjobs printed on it. Inside the case are the earlove ear plugs, with a set of medium tips already attached. That brings the total of tips this comes with to four: Extra Small, Small, Medium and Large. Literally a size for everyone. As someone who has two different sized ear canals (left = small, right = medium) this was perfect for me getting the exact fit I needed. It also makes this one of very few ear plugs that fits everyone from small children to large-eared adults alike from the get go.

Other notes I have on the unboxing experience include there being a lot of detail in the design that extended to the inside of the box. Even though I knew what was inside, I still was pleasantly surprised by the experience of opening up the box and finding little pastel hearts adorned over the inside of the packaging. I think this will make the Earlove particularly popular with parents come Xmas (or as gifts for friends… why not!).

FIT:

As mentioned, I know from years of trying different ear plugs that my ear canals are two different sizes. It was quite satisfying to be able to customize the Earlove so that I could get a fit that worked for my particular set of ears. Once I had removed the medium tip that the left ear plug came with and replaced it with a small tip, I was able to pop the earlove in and get a comfortable fit right away. When I looked in the mirror though, I noticed the heart shape was slightly crooked (at least for how I wanted to wear them). Then I remembered someone in the office saying to twist them while in the ears to get the heart shape upright. It took a couple of attempts but eventually I got the hearts facing upright while fitting snugly in my ear. Cute! Later, when I would use the Earlove for sleep, I didn’t bother twisting the heart upright as no one was going to see it anyways. 

It is quite remarkable just how soft the Earlove is. They’re made from one of the most rubbery, light silicones out there. This is great if you have sensitive ears like I do. It also makes them excellent for sleeping (but we’ll get to that later).


upright, woohoo

GENERAL NOISE REDUCTION:

After wearing Earlove in a few different environments I was able to get a sense of where these landed in terms of sound reduction, which I would describe as mid-tier. There are definitely ear plugs available that reduce more noise. For example many industrial foam ear plugs. At the same time, these are still proper sound blocking ear plugs, as opposed to a lot of music ear plugs, which only reduce (or attenuate if you want to be fancy) sound only slightly (so as not to ruin the listening experience).

What this means in practice is you can expect enough noise reduction that you can catch public transport, walk through a busy mall or zone out in the office without really being distracted by loud noises without ever feeling ‘cut off’ in a way that might be dangerous if you were say, crossing a busy road or hopping onto a train or bus. 

I live near Broadway Shopping Centre in Sydney which some of you would know can get incredibly busy and loud, so much so I often avoid going there together, even though it’s by far my closest and most convenient place to get groceries and everything else. I found though with my Earlove in I was far less irritated and stressed by my surroundings. I got my shopping done without getting a headache and even found time to peruse the upper levels for some extra items I’d been neglecting. In this instance... socks!

SLEEP:

I have always been a light sleeper and for years now have been using ear plugs to help for sleep. The issue I have faced is that depending on my state of mind when going to bed, the particular noises that may or may not arise during the night and how lazy I am feeling, I need different ear plugs. For example, if my mind is racing and I know I really need to chill out I will opt for a foam ear plug as its worth the effort to carefully roll and insert the ear plug as they offer very high levels of noise reduction. However oftentimes I’ll go to bed on the verge of sleep and can’t be bothered with the extra effort it takes to insert and properly fit foam ear plugs, or I’ll wake during the night or early morning to the sounds of a million birds chirping (there are a lot of trees outside my bedroom). I found the Earlove just perfect for these situations, where I was already half asleep and could easily grab them from my bed side table and pop them in without having to focus all that hard.

The noise reduction isn’t quite as high as foam but for blocking out birds or the sound of my partner beginning her early morning pilates routine it was plenty enough to fall back and stay asleep. Over the course of the three or so months I tested the Earlove they quickly became a staple of my sleep routine for this reason. Only rarely did I find myself opting for foam.

Comfort-wise from a sleep perspective the Earlove are quite remarkable. Very few reusable ear plugs can be worn all night without some comfort but I found that unless I completely bungled the way I put them in they were perfectly. The extra soft rubbery silicone really delivers here.

OTHER USES:

Another place the Earlove earplugs shone for me was at the office, where I’d pop them in whenever a colleague nearby took a phone call or I had a task that required a lot of focus like editing an image in photoshop or writing. The fact I could easily pop them in and out made a huge difference. Like with sleep, it wasn’t until I had spent some time with the Earlove that I realised how high the ‘set up cost’ e.g. the time it took to insert and properly fit on other ear plugs was (worth it on a construction job site but probably not necessary in an otherwise safe office environment). It might seem like a small thing, but if you need or want to put your ear plugs in and out 7 or 8 times a day like I do then it can really make the difference and the plus side was I was working undistracted for longer per day than before I had encountered these ear plugs. 

I also tried out the Earlove a few times at gigs and the club. I was pleasantly surprised by their performance. The Earlove are not specifically designed for live music in the same way some music ear plugs are. That is to say they do not have a special acoustic filter like that found on the Musicmate Pro. However the level of attenuation is pretty spot on for a loud electronic music event like the one I went to at Sydney’s Club 77 and they certainly prevented my ears ringing the next day, which is the baseline expectation. In terms of sound clarity, a purist may take issue with some elements of their performance, but I thought the lows, mids and highs all came through rather well for a $30 ear plug. Plus I got a bunch of compliments on how they looked (I can only imagine how many more I would have got at a daytime event like a music festival).  

probaby pairs well with brat

SUMMARY:

I have used a lot of different ear plugs, but Earlove Earplugs have really impressed me for how flexible they are. They fit all ears, are easy to get in and out, look incredibly cute and somehow always seem to reduce just the right amount of noise. Getting the heart to face upright while in the ear takes a little practice, but overall, Earlove scores top marks from me. I would recommend to anyone who wants to wants a cute, comfy ear plug that they can use in a variety of different situations. 

Earlove Earplugs are available here.