[MN Ham Phones]

Quote:

Originally posted by adhoc sorry for this late addition but - insert the foamies shiny side in - trust me, it does wonders for comfort.

I had to look at the remaining unused sets to even know there *is* a shiny side....thanks

 

[d_wilson]

Using the skin side, or shiny side out is in the manual. This shouldn't change the function of the earplug in any way, but might be more comfortable and it will stay cleaner.

Both the yellow plugs that Shure uses and the black ones we use are made from the same material from the same company. This type of earplug is made in a huge sheet about 12 foot wide and 100 ft long. It naturally has a skin on the outside. In our case the entire sheet is skived to the proper thickness (1/2" for ER-4 and 3/8" thick for the ER-6), and the earplugs are diecut from the sheet.

There are some other plugs using different materials that are poured individually and have a skin on the whole plug. These are nice, but there aren't any color options and they are several times more expensive. We are starting to use one on our ETY-COM because the shape of the plug allows us to supply one foam eartip instead of a standard and a small size foam eartip.

Don Wilson
Etymotic Research

 

[refault]

So would using one's saliva as a drop of water to dampen the foamies and/or the flanged for insertion be bad? Or is it alright?

 

[d_wilson]

It is done for the flanged tips, but I don't think it would benefit the foam plugs. You can actually purchase a lubricant from most hearing aid dealers if you wish.