EarPlanes Failure

3 weeks ago, I'd just gotten off a flight with a crying child in the seat behind me.  I'd forgotten the ear plugs I normally keep in my laptop bag.  So I stopped into a shop in the Detroit Airport (formerly NW terminal, now Delta) and picked up a box of "EarPlanes".  Living in an age of bar codes, I did not look for a marked price on the package, approached the store clerk, and began to hand her $2.  SILLY Me!  The pair of ear plugs was $7.49. Ridiculous!

They have little pressure relief valves in them... ok.. maybe they'll help my ears form popping.  Nope.  The air passage provided by the pressure relief shuttle valve decreases the noise arresting ability to a paltry 30 dB.  I could easily hear all conversations around me in the next flight.  And the Rigidity of the hard plugs and internal valves makes for a painful ear canal insertion. Ouch.

If you want to throw away $8 on ear plugs that barely work, and hurt your ears, by all means, get EarPlanes (aka EarPains).  I'll be sticking with my 20 cent compressible plugs that I can get at manufacturing facilities, by the handful.