**NEW! Check out my review of the Loop Experience Pro HERE!

For the last few weeks, I’ve been trying out Loop earplugs. After seeing repeated ads for them and some of my favorite ADHD influencers raving about them, I decided to give them a try.

I tried both the Loop Engage Plus and the Loop Experience Plus earplugs and love them!

I had been using earplugs for years to protect my hearing at concerts and I found they worked great to help me focus, as well as keep from getting to overwhelmed with excess sounds. Sometimes I find with my ADHD that noises that might not bother some people bother me a lot — like mouth smacks or tongue clucks. Actually, a lot of the mouth noises I take out as a podcast editor are based on my own personal preferences for what distracts me the most — mouth clicks, loud plosives (popping P’s and B’s), humming and whirring in the background, to name a few.

While I can remove these noises from my clients’ recordings with simply the push of a few buttons on my editing and audio processing software, in real life they can be much harder to remove or even ignore.

Shop for loop earplugs

I’ve loved earplugs, but while they were great for concerts and loud events, sometimes they tended to drown out too much noise and I had trouble understanding someone talking to me. I was excited to try the Loop earplugs, especially the Engage Plus (Loop official website / Amazon), which was touted as being great for being able to lower background noise while still being able to understand conversations.

Here are some of my first impressions and thoughts:

I noticed the comfort right away. For those who don’t like sticking earplugs in their ears, these are not for you. But I personally don’t mind. Loop earplugs come with a variety of tips so you can get just the right fit. For me, the medium tips that came attached felt just right. I tried the smaller tips just to be sure, and they felt secure, but I preferred the snug comfort of the medium tips for my ears. The big test came when I found I could wear them for hours without getting a headache or feeling pressure like I was underwater. After a few weeks of use, I have no complaints.
Everything is at a lower volume — it doesn't work like magic to keep speaking volume at the exact same level as it would be if I weren’t wearing earplugs, but it’s not too low that I can’t understand what someone’s saying. I find the frequencies in conversational tones seem to be clearer and easier to focus on when the hums and background noises are lowered or filtered
I now wear them to visit my mom who resides in a nursing home. It's a shared medical facility so there can be some loud TVs as you pass by the rooms, and half the time there's a beeping in the hallway from someone calling for a nurse or attendant. I've never done well in hospitals or medical buildings because of things like that. Between all the people, the sounds, and the urgency of the beeping, I find I have to decompress for a while after being around environments like that. I’ve found wearing them or even just a single earplug in one ear when I go helps. The last time I went, I was able to hear what my mom was saying to me without being distracted by the beeping coming from down the hall or a passing conversation.
I now put them in as soon as I hear my least favorite kids’ show theme songs (sorry, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!). I like that they filter out a lot from the 6-year-old’s shows, especially if I’m not facing the television. I wish I had these when he insisted on watching the same episodes of Blippi on repeat. Later observation: I noticed Elmo’s laugh does penetrate the Engage, but it isn’t as grating. They definitely dull some of the most shrill sounds from kids’ shows, at least.
I realized they would have been great for the dental cleaning I had. Luckily I remembered them the next week when I got a filling done and was so happy to find they lowered the volume of the drilling, suctioning, and polishing tools! I didn't leave with the usual headache and noise overload this time!
Driving is tricky. In some states, it’s illegal to drive with headphones, headsets, earbuds, etc. That said, I haven’t been able to find many laws regarding earplugs and restricting hearing while driving, though I imagine it’s considered dangerous everywhere to drive while intentionally ignoring the sounds of the road. I'm very aware of how often I listen to the road sounds and car sounds when I'm driving and I don't want to ignore those. But one sound I can't stand while driving is the whirring of the AC in the back of the car. It can either be controlled by a button in the front or the one in the back that my kids can control. For some reason, the loudness of it blowing from the back of the console right behind my ear is one of the most distracting and distressing sounds while I’m driving. One day when my son was home sick and we were coming home from the doctor’s, he asked to turn on the AC in the back of the car. I wasn't about to say no when it was clear he was fighting a fever and needed the cool air back there. I remembered the earplugs and decided to just put one in and leave my other ear free to listen to the road. The Loop Engage was so perfect, I couldn't believe it! My son was able to have his AC, and I was able to listen to the road and hear his voice without the overwhelming distraction of the whirring noise distracting and irritating me.
You know what goes away when you stop scrunching up your forehead and closing your eyes tightly to loud noises? Headaches! As well as the irritability that comes from those overwhelming noises and headaches!
Compared to the earplugs I was already using, speech was a lot clearer. I was worried these would lower everything, just like any old earplugs, but these definitely were able to let in conversational frequencies and eliminate or lower a lot of the distracting background noise.
Speaking as a podcast editor, using Loop Engage is comparable to using Noise & Hum Reduction in my podcast editing software, plus a High Pass Filter to reduce those harsher frequencies, while still keeping the voice understandable and clear.
Even though most everything is brought down volume-wise, I still equate these earplugs to being like glasses to help you focus but for your ears.
I ordered these right before the new spring collection dropped with new pink, purple, and orange colors, but I’m still glad I got the Arctic Crystal, which is clear. I like that they blend in because in the past, I’ve been perceived as rude when using headphones, earplugs, and earbuds to dull sounds around me. I like that I can wear these discreetly, especially when covered by my hair.

Final thoughts: These have now replaced my go-to earplugs I used to use on a regular basis. I notice these have gone with me or kept nearby for the last few weeks I’ve had them, and I use these at least a few times a week.

Let’s talk a bit about the Plus version, with attachments to lower the volume even more.

Yes, I splurged and got the extra -5db Loop Mutes. These are absolutely wonderful when the noises are everything everywhere all at once! The dishwasher, the washing machine, the TV, the robot vacuum, the choruses of “I’m hungry!” and “Mooo-oooom!”, on top of notification after notification from my phone.

As expected, adding these little accessories will lower the overall volume, BUT, I was still able to hear conversations and talking right in front of me.

I also got the Experience Plus for concerts and I wrote about my experience with those HERE.

Check out Loop Earplugs here

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