Flare Calmer – Ear Plugs Alternative – Reduce Annoying Noises Without Blocking Sound – Soft Reusable Silicone - Purple

*Reason for buying*I had read about Calmers as a potential accommodation tool for people with autism and general sensory/perceptual sensitivities (which I have).*Outer Design Pros*They fit well, they are very discreet (in clear), their bag keeps them dry and clean. The bag is easy to recognize by touch if you have it in a laptop bag with other stuff.*Technical Design Pros*Some people have said that, after the 24h test, they took the Calmers out in noisy environments and immediately noticed the Calmers had been making a difference, because they became more anxious and irritable. I do not notice such a shift (which is a plus because it seems that wearing the Calmers a lot doesn't further lower your tolerance to sound). On whether it works for me- I can easily notice that mid to high pitched sounds are, indeed, muffled. Low pitch sound is unaffected, and I can still hear mids to highs pretty well. There is seemingly no decibel difference, just pitch. So, Flare is legit on those claims. Again, I haven't felt a distinct shift when I put them in or take them out. However, I have been far less anxious, irritable, and overwhelmed since I started to wear them (real result, placebo, or other cause- I don't know, but I'm sticking with it). Also, I can tolerate close proximity to very harsh noises like vacuuming (never could achieve this before). I feel as though I am able to function better in my noisy home, whereas before I was knowingly and frequently running away from noise. Noise can still be annoying sometimes, but it just seems more tolerable/manageable.*How/When I Wear Them*I place the Calmers in my ear as directed (logo/projection side facing the back of your head, not super far into your ear). They really don't work otherwise, so be sure to do that. I just put them in before any louder noises I expect to occur and/or that I suspect or know stress me out. So, for example, I will put them in when my family is settling down to watch TV. I haven't tried the Calmers at a noisy restaurant or public space yet. I so far didn't feel I needed them at those places, but I'm sure they will help there. I also reach for them if there is a louder noise in my environment and I notice that I am irritated or have a headache in the back of my head/neck (I learned recently that these headaches are often from overstimulation). The noise may not be the cause, but who knows? I grab my Calmers anyway.*Technical Design "Cons"*Nothing is a real con for me. I do notice some weirdness to my voice when I wear the Calmers. People call it "echoing" but it just sounds a bit muffled and low to me. Nothing bothersome over time, though. It can also be a bit harder to hear people. This was all expected, especially due to the range at which I and other people speak (mids I guess). You also can't wear earbuds for music with them, so headphones are good, or I just take them out. I originally wanted colored Calmers for fun (I don't actually like boring and discreet items), but I found the available colors to be ugly, and I see that the clear ones are actually a great choice. So, Flare could make nicer colors, but it's not that important. I am guessing that I can't wear my tragus piercing without affecting the Calmers' performance (haven't tried, they are bendy but it might still affect things). That's fine, as I'd rather wear the Calmers most of the time. It's not a problem existing for most potential buyers anyway, but I wanted to note that.*Overall*I love the Calmers, and I think the price is fair for the materials used and how they have helped and will help me. I would definitely suggest splurging on accommodating yourself (I know Calmers are not that expensive, but I was still dragging my feet to buy them). Accommodating yourself in health is not shameful (you aren't being overly dramatic), it definitely helps you to live a little and be more productive, it is needed, it is worth the price, and it opens up space to be happier. 10/10 great tool for sensory sensitivity.

Reason for purchase; misophonia and auditory hypersensitivity associated with autism and sensory processing disorder.Before getting these things, I was reluctant to spend the money and deeply skeptical of how effective they would be for one reason; most of the product literature on Flare Audio's website and their advertisements were fairly vague about the details of what they did and how they worked in a way that set off snake oil alarm bells. When an explanation is vague as to why you should stick rubber tubes in your ear to alter your mood, my skeptic sense tingles. I can't help it. I'm a scientist.Nonetheless, I decided to give them a try. I have enough of an acoustics knowledge and well-trained enough ear to be able to hear in detail what exactly they're doing (if they're doing ANYTHING), so I'm not exactly going to be tricked easily by a placebo effect in this area. Over the last week or so my skepticism has been replaced with admiration and delight; these things work, they work well, and they work for very good reasons.There's a few things going on here;1. They're bypassing the external anatomy of the ear, making hearing more directional and a hair less sensitive2. They're altering the internal acoustic properties of the ear canalLet me break this down a bit further;Our ears act as acoustic collecting dishes, in particular the hollow adjacent to the ear canal. If you're bypassing that, then less sound is being directed into the ear canal in general, and this also has the effect of making hearing slightly more directional without amplifying in the way something like an ear trumpet would.So how does this help? When you have an auditory hypersensitivity from a processing disorder, you can't filter out environmental sounds normally, and by making hearing more directional you're cutting out a huge percentage of the sound reverberation your ears are picking up. Every echo in a room adds to the auditory chaos around you, so by removing a measure of that from your awareness, and slightly deadening sounds coming from behind you, it becomes a lot easier to decipher and focus on sounds in front of you that you're trying to give your attention to. The best way I could describe the shift in auditory sensation is that it's like suddenly all the surfaces in the room are covered in sound-dampening acoustic foam.As for altering the acoustic properties of the ear canal itself, it's also deadening sound reflection. This has an effect not unlike turning down the gain on an amplifier. A lot of high frequency and upper midrange sounds are dampened very slightly. Electrical hum and buzz is really effectively notched out. In general audiophile terms, it makes the sound profile "warmer."In a relatively quiet room, the differences in your auditory perception will be fairly negligible. The louder and more chaotic your environment, the greater degree of difference will become apparent. I didn't even grok how effective they were until I'd been wearing them to the grocery store a few times, and then took them out while shopping. I'm telling you, the sudden auditory assault when I removed them legitimately stunned me. I wasn't even cognizant of how much auditory input they were notching out until suddenly it all came screaming back.I honestly wish Flare Audio did a more effective and detailed job of explaining the functioning of these things on the website. As it is, it sorta took trying them myself to understand the principles they're operating on. That being said, these things are amazing, worth every penny, and I'll probably never go anywhere without a pair ever again. These are a shockingly effective tool to counter sensory overwhelm, so I guess I shouldn't have been so skeptical of sticking rubber tubes in my ear.