Happy Ears Ear Plugs Review – Ocean Rain

Happy Ears are a Swedish company that offer extremely small, reusable ear plugs, mainly produced from recycled materials. As these ear plugs follow the elliptical cross section of the human ear canal and cover a minimal surface area therein, they are extremely effective and comfortable.

I thank Happy Ears for supplying me one pair of ear plugs for my review upon my request. I don’t earn any money from this review.

Introduction

In an increasingly louder world, many of us use ear plugs regularly, be it as protection against our own noise, let’s say during home renovations or yard work, or against noise generated by others, from trains, concerts, power tools, or air conditioners. Some use ear plugs for tinnitus control. Many of us sleep with them.

There are principally two kinds of ear plugs on the market, disposable ones and reusable ones. The disposable ones have been around since the early 20th century, initially made of wax. Since the 1970s, memory foams have dominated this kind. These foams can be used 3-5 times so that regulars have gone through jars of them over decades of use.

Reusable ear plugs are sustainable and therefore environmentally friendly. They may be a more expensive acquisition, initially, but work out being cheaper through long-term use in the end. Companies such as Etymotic and Sennheiser have been known to offer such, typically in conical shapes. And there are tons of kickstarter-type companies popping up in our Facebook feeds.

Happy Ears are a company from Malmö, Sweden that focus on noise blocking with the environment in mind. Their materials right down to the packaging are sustainable. I became aware of them through a former coworker — all his family members swear on them.

What makes Happy Ears ear plugs functionally distinct is their geometry, which I will describe as follows. There is no comparison to their competitors. You either like them…or not.

The company offers three models that are shape wise and price wise identical but differ in their colours, SNR, and material sourcing: the white “Originals” (25 dB), the black “Recycled” (25 dB), and the green “Ocean Plastics” (27 dB). You find details on their Shop Page.

All of these are claimed to last for several month at heavy use, and for years at light use.

I have tested the “Ocean Plastics” made from material sourced from the North Atlantic and North Pacific, just where we Canadians get our salmon from. My pair came in a compostable bag and is stored in a small (included) plastic case between uses.

Specifications Happy Ears Ear Plugs (Ocean Plastics)

Happy Ears Physicals and Application

People need ear plugs for all sorts of situations and environments, as discussed above. The plugs have to seal properly (duh!!!) but also provide good comfort and fit. They should be skin friendly and not trigger allergies. Important is their ability for long-term use. The Happy Ears ear plugs are mushroom shaped and have an elliptical cross section to naturally fit our ear canals.

In contrast, essentially all other reusables and disposables and have circular cross sections, which is unnatural. Just with silicone ear tips of in-ear-monitors, only the cap touches the ear canals (and not the stem), whereas your classic memory foams are completely immersed in there.

Less contact area means more comfort…for most of us. Inserting them requires a bit of fiddling, initially, but it soon becomes second nature. If you are not sure about the size of your ear canals, Happy Ears offer a discounted discovery pack containing all three sizes: S, M,L.

I have used the Happy Ears for more than 2 weeks, mainly for sleeping. They softened substantially during this period so that it was much easier to get an effective seal. They also became pretty comfortable ranking them 1st in this respect of all eaplugs I have used.

Wearing the Happy Ears in bed, I could roll on my sides without problems. But – and this happened only once – if they fall out of your ears, you are in for a search as they are so small. Have a flashlight handy.

Keeping them in their small case makes them handy for travel, but a loop or D-ring to attach them to a lanyard would come in handy. You don’t want to creep around between airplane seats to find your set. It is really that small.

Oh, needless to say that the sound insulation was very satisfactory. In my case, I mainly wanted to filter out the low-frequency noise of my neighbours’ air conditioner. This worked just fine.

Concluding Remarks

Happy Ears offer unique reusable ear plugs starting from their packaging through their materials to their fit. Insertion will take some initial fiddling but you will get used to them very quickly. Once you get a proper seal, they are very comfortable so that they may make your ears truly happy. Mine are…and I will take them on my summer vacation to Eastern Canada.

Good stuff!

Until next time…quietly yours…and keep on listening!