There are a couple of reasons why it’s wise to wear earplugs when you go into the sea or any body of water for that matter. The first and the most common reason is to stop the pollution and bacteria reaching your ear canal. Your ear canal is a delicate part of your body that is kind of ideal for breeding bacteria (small closed warm and humid place) so dirty water coming into your ear can lead to ear infections. I was so far lucky enough to avoid this, it’s true that places where I mostly surf have clean water although there were a few yuck moments where I wished I not only had earplugs but was dressed in a waterproof condom haha. Anyway, this is what most people use earplugs for. But for surfers and other water people that don’t end their sea season at the end of summer earplugs will also protect your ears from wind and cold water. Constant exposure to cold water can lead to a condition called surfer’s ear (bone surrounding the ear canal develops lumps of new bony growth which constrict the ear canal, not good).
Wavy Ocean Earplugs
So why don’t all the people wear earplugs when going into the water? One of the drawbacks of regular earplugs is that together with the water they will also block sound. This can mess with your ability to surf, feels weird, can even play games with your balance and makes it impossible to talk to your friends in the lineup. Now there is a solution to this problem. I got a chance to test out the Wavy Ocean earplugs that will stop the water from getting into your ear but will not block the sound! Wavy Ocean was started by Loïc Boisnard, an audio engineer from The Netherlands, Amsterdam. Loïc worked in several music studios, learning about acoustics and what sound is all about. After seeing how people struggle with regular earplugs he partnered with his connections in audio, manufacturing and design industry and started Wavy Ocean.
Earplug Specs and Tech
OK, so let’s start with the technical stuff and then I will let you know how I like these plugs. Wavy Ocean is uniquely designed with 12 separate parts:
– 2x Earplugs with natural 16dB attenuation noise filters.
– 1x Storage pouch.
– 2x Grip ear sleeves.
– 1x Safety cord.
– 6x interchangeable silicone ear tips sizes-small, medium, and large.
The earplugs have a round shape, when the sleeve is fitted around the round-shaped earplugs it has the freedom to turn and fit your ear. The grip ear sleeves will lock the plug into your ear and together with the safety cord you don’t have to worry about losing them. How come these plugs let the sound through but not the water? They are designed so they don’t block the sound they filter it. They use a filer technique with a large opening to the ear, this results in keeping the high frequencies intact which is important for communication. Also because of the large opening, the ear has more room to ventilate which results in less feeling of isolation and low-frequency emphasis. Wavy Ocean lowers the sound with 16dB.
My Impression
First, these earplugs seem really well made and the soft rubber storage pouch is perfect for storing them, otherwise these things just get lost in your luggage. As said, they come with 6 interchangeable silicone ear tips. A pair of small ones, a pair of medium sized and a pair of large ones. You put these at the end of the earplugs, this is the part that goes into your ear canal and seals it off, so try which ones fit you best. For me the M size was perfect. In my experience it helps to pull your ear up and away from your head when inserting earplugs and in this case it helped as well to make them sit nicely into the ear. Another thing that I didn’t mention, why people don’t wear earplug in the water, is that earplugs can feel uncomfortable. Now I think it’s impossible to have earplugs that will make a good seal and at the same time won’t put any pressure inside our ear canal, but these Wavy Ocean earplugs come pretty close. Even after an hour or so they still feel comfortable. Actually, you feel them a bit when you put them in and after a while you kind of forget they are there.
I usually have problems with music earbuds staying in my ear, almost no matter the shape and size. With Wavy Ocean the grip ear sleeves really help to secure the plugs into the ear. I tested these during some snorkeling and during two surf sessions, I wasn’t exactly headbanging at a metal concert but they stayed put during everything I did. What about the sound? Yes, the sound comes through:)! It was really nice to hear everything and not being insulated from the world around you. I just might start wearing these during the winter surf session.
So if you are looking for quality earbuds that will protect your ears during surfing, windsurfing, kitesurfing, wild water kayaking, rafting, swimming, triathlon etc… check these out. They should cost around 39,95 eur and are available in stores in EU, Norway, UK and soon New Zealand. You can obviously also order them through their website/webshop: www.wavy-ocean.com.