Earplugs
 

Do any of you wear ear protection while refereeing? If so, what kinds have you found work well enough to tone down the whistle and horn and maybe announcer/music but not totally get in the way of talking to the captain or table or coaches.

My hearing has gotten measurably worse over the last couple of years, and my ref whistle is the loudest thing I can think of that I come in contact with regularly, so I'd like to at least stop adding damage.

I got some silcone ones from Lowes that are for using power tools and are supposed to be good with continuous noise, but say they are not as effective with sharp sudden sounds like gunfire..and it seems to me that the whistle might fall in the latter category.

Ear Gasm.

I use a product named Luiswell that I ordered from Amazon.

Thank you for that, I read up on Eargasms and they sound great. A pair is on the way so I will find out for myself next match.

Last tournament one of the other refs gave me a new pair of his Flent Quiet Please foam earplugs and they were great. Made it sound like my whistle was coming from somewhere else in the gym, not right in front of my face. I had been worried they might actually make it louder in the way that my own talking seems louder with earplugs in, but that was not the case at all.

I wish hearing protection had been part of the conversation when I started doing this a couple of years ago. I think earplugs of any sort should be part of the basic equipment set right in there with whistle, flags, cards, net chain, etc.