Radians Custom Molded Earplugs

If you look at standard plastic ear plugs they are round and have sealing flanges. So if you are one of those folk whose ear canals are oval shaped or curved or anything but perfectly round standard plugs don't work. In fact they are worse than not working because they produce hotspots.Hotspots are where you put your earplugs in and then after a half hour or so you feel a burning pain like someone is drilling a hole in your ear with a red hot poker. Sometimes you can take the plugs out and sometimes you can't. Anything involving standard ear plugs plus a standard military aviation helmet/visor/oxygen mask produces a situation where not only do you have hot spots but you can't get the plugs out. There is a bone right under the skin of the ear canal where hotspots are the worst. Those little flanges tend to attack that bone first.I nearly forgot to mention foam rubber plugs. They produce fewer hotspots but you have to jam them in to keep them from popping out and then at a crucial time they break their seal and you get an earful of noise. And they itch when you get sweaty.These babies are better!I really wish they'd had these custom molded plugs back when I was in military aviation. If they are this comfortable out in the woods with a chain saw or out in the field on the tractor they'd be great wearing that skin tight aviator's helmet. Sweat doesn't bother them, there are no hotspots and they seem to attenuate ear-damaging high tones more than low pitched sounds.Some words of experience:1) Instructions say to mix half, do one ear and then do the other. Next time I mold a set I'm going to mix both halves, then split in halves and do both ears at the same time.2) Forget the mirror. An ear mirror reflected off the bathroom mirror through the distortion of your bifocals just doesn't work. Plus, unless you have two left hands you can't hold the mirror and shape the left plug. Then you need a spare right hand to do the same on the right. I got a second person with clean hands to help tidy up the outer surface.3) I've bought several pairs of these through Amazon. Beware of one of Amazon's associates "123CloseOut". The one pair I bought from them still hasn't arrived and Amazon tacked on an extra un-advertised shipping charge for these pirates to ship to a PO box.Edited on 11/16/13 to add: All ear plugs of all varieties become uncomfortable if you leave them in long enough, but these less than any others, and less than most headsets. I've had time to wear this set for a couple of extended exposures since I wrote the review. They do start to itch a bit after four hours or so, about as much as foamies do after a half hour. Sweat seems to make them work a bit better, a definite plus. Wearing a radio headset over them is entirely do-able, though I have to turn up the volume to the top to be heard. But that's what they are for, to reduce sound. They work just fine alone, at least as good as any other single set of plugs or headphones I've ever used.

Used this kit to create a custom mold for a set of Shure E2 in-ear monitors. If this didn't work, I was in for a $90 trip to the audiologist to make impressions, send the impressions off to a lab to have them fitted for new molds for an additional $150 and then buy a different pair of in-ear monitors that would fit the new molds for at least another $100. YES, for $340 I'd have a superior result, but I like the E2's I already have and for $10... why not? All in all, my results were very good, and I ended up with a set of custom in-ear plugs that with just a little bit of tweaking afterward, block out almost all external sound and give me a very comfortable fit. The sound is great too, with better bass due to a good seal.My approach:Before I started, I grabbed a small prescription bottle to bite on and keep my mouth open while the mix was setting (the only thing I could think of - since I use these for musical performance while singing). Then I set up my phone to start the timer. I made sure to take off the existing sleeve from the in-ears and put the ultra small small fiberglass filter on the end of the sound hole to prevent silicone from getting into the driver. Scotch tape would probably work too. Then I split each jar of putty into 4 equal parts - giving me a total of 4 tries to make a good pair. (You will likely not get it perfect on the first try, so as long as you're resigned to that - you'll do all right). I prepared my in-ears like I was about to put them on. I then did one ear first by mixing the putty and hardener, being careful to fold over each fourth until the mix was one consistent color - or for about 30 to 45 seconds. I then gently placed the mix in one ear and pressed moderately, but not packing it too far into my ear. Lastly, I pushed the in-ear monitor in, like I was wearing it, and then wiggled it a little and smoothed out the edges. I then bit on the prescription bottle to simulate and open mouth and set the timer for 15 minutes, not 10 - and sat as still as I could. I carefully took them out after 15 minutes and did the other ear in the same way. They mixture set well and was very firm after 15 minutes. I set them aside for a few hours, pulled out the in-ear monitors and then used a drill bit to drill the sound hole out. Ultimately though, I needed to use pointed scissors to cut out a small sound hole into my ear from the monitors.The first one came out great, but the second one, the seal was not quite right. I must not have positioned the in-ear monitor properly. No problem, second time, it worked. I used the remaining putty to make some small plugs.I was very happy with this product. Definitely worth a try of $10 for me. Hope this helps someone else.