Similar characteristics listed on product pages don’t mean all earplugs will work the same. To give you a better understanding of PQ Wax Silicone Ear Plugs in action, we’ve decided to test them for a week and tell you everything about this experience.
The packaging of PQ 12 Wax Silicone Ear Plugs consists of a plastic case with 12 wax plugs, one sample of each PQ Wax Cotton and PQ Small Foam Earplugs in a paperboard with two sticky stripes on the sides to make sure the case won’t fall out. Inside the case, there are also two clear plastic liners at the top and the bottom to hold the earplugs in place. The minimalistic design of the package is simple, yet eye-catching. We should note that PQ also have a bigger box option with 24 Wax Silicone Pillows for those who love to stock up on their favorite earplugs.
If you’ve used regular foam earplugs before, you might assume that wax earplugs are worse at noise cancellation, but that’s not the case. In fact, PQ Wax Silicone Earplugs are officially rated to 32 dB NRR (noise reduction rate), which is exactly the same for PQ Small Foam Earplugs, for example. They’re going to reduce all medium volume sounds, including snoring, neighbors chatting or roommates talking on the phone.
For the sound test, we wore the plugs for 7 nights in a row while sleeping, as well as used them occasionally throughout the week while working, relaxing, and showering. The two most important evaluation criteria we considered were: how firmly the earplugs stayed in the ears and how well they reduced different background noises.
As a person who lives in a room with thin walls, I often can’t fall asleep because of my neighbors chatting, quarreling, or loudly walking around. With PQ in my ears, I only heard muffled sounds. The 32dB noise reduction turned out to be enough for my brain not to pay attention to distant sound distractions and put me into sleep pretty quickly. When I woke up after the first night with pqplugs, I found them near my pillow: they fell out of my ears. Spoiler: it didn’t happen ever again in the next 6 days, the reason for this I explain further in the article. Overall, sleeping with wax earplugs is even more comfortable than with foam plugs as. It’s because they don’t go straight into your ear canal, but rather cover it tightly. There is no pressure on the ear whatsoever, so I snoozed comfortably in my favorite sleep position ‒ on the side.
Working from home, every day I spend a good amount of time on my laptop. Surprisingly, not only my eyes were getting tired from such “activity” but also my ears, and PQ Ear Plugs helped me realize it.
After I’ve noticed the before and after of working in earplugs, I could no longer stand the noise from typing on the keyboard and from the laptop’s cooling system. It’s such a relief to do the necessary work in complete silence.
So when I had the time to read my copy of “The Growth Mindset” by Carol Dweck, I wanted to see if earplugs would make it an even more enjoyable experience. Without hesitation, pqplugs helped me focus better on what I was reading, muffling all of the distractions.
To be honest, I didn’t initially plan to test the plugs for their waterproof abilities, it happened by accident.
I was wearing PQ Wax Earplugs while reading, and then evening came and it was time to shower. Having forgotten to take out the plugs, I noticed something was off upon turning on the water. The muffled dripping of water sounded soothing, and once again I came to realize how loud and annoying it could get without having earplugs in.
Except for muffling shower noise, pq wax pillows saved my ears from getting water in them, which is also a huge plus.
Inserting earplugs is a real struggle at first, I even got a headache while trying to push them in. It took me some time to get the hang of them, and a video instruction proved useful in this case. Once I got the plugs to stay in, it took me no longer than 10 seconds to insert them every time after that.
As I’ve mentioned before, the first night with earplugs ended up with them falling out of my ears. The reason why it happened was because I didn’t follow two basic rules which I realized later on:
Later on, I changed the routine to count these rules in, and in the next 6 nights, my earplugs stayed in place. Since they don’t go straight into the ear canal, they were comfortable to wear while sleeping on the side and didn’t pressure the ears. Both of my ears felt as if they got an individual soft pillow, so it was a relaxing and peaceful experience.
As for wearability, I managed to spend the week using only two pairs of earplugs. But it should be noted that I wore them every single night AND at least once during the day, so I’d say that one pair of PQ Wax Silicone Earplugs can last for about 7-10 times.
If you’re looking for great noise-canceling earplugs for 2021, PQ Wax Silicone Ear Plugs are a wonderful choice. Unlike regular foam plugs they don’t cause any pressure on the ears and you can mold them to fit your personal ear shape.
0 comments
