Take this as someone who has struggled with an incurable condition called tinnitus for more than five years now; not due to unbalanced hearing loss, we often ignore ear health more than is perhaps ideal. Life around us is noisy, but we think we’re simply used to it. Cue unintended hearing loss, or worse, the latter often unexplained. Everything from blaring vehicle horns, the din of air-conditioning units, construction nearby or a neighbour’s carpenter hard at work chiselling wood panels by the dozen, people talking loudly, and there’s always that one with fewer active brain cells in your neighbourhood who has removed the silencer from his motorcycle. There are two sides to Sennheiser SoundProtex Plus earbuds, or filters (whatever you’d like to call them) — pre-emptive ear protection, or if you’re already struggling with an ear condition, protection against exposure to loud sounds.
A filter between the loud ambient noise and your ear drums holds more value than you may realise. Of course, one argument could be those foam earplugs available in a nearby pharmacy, and they’d work for some use-cases. But there is little science behind their designs, for they’re meant to simply be shoved into the ear, and either don’t provide much protection against often dangerous frequencies, or block out too much. Sennheiser’s attempts with the ₹2,990 SoundProtex Plus buds is a multifaceted approach that is more personal, and use-case specific. Three sizes of ear tips, alongside three types of acoustic filters (pairs of course) and a full block filter. Each of these blocks out a different band of sound decibels.
I had the chance to try the Sennheiser SoundProtex Plus over the past few weeks, and that included some long-distance travel. I must note at this point that the full block filter has to be my favourite, because it gives me exactly the thing often craved — complete isolation from humans elaborating unsolicited their world view, and the general noise of the ambience. The fact that this is able to completely isolate a Boeing 777-300ER and an Airbus A380s engine hum (both sound different, and audibility levels in the cabin vary considerably too), is disconcertingly pleasant. With this filter plugged in, you’ll not hear a peep from the world around you, and that can lead you to feel a disconnect with any sense of place. But it simply works.
To get this to work as it should, the choice of correct eartip sizes is essential. Much like how you’d painstakingly assess with a true wireless earbuds or an in-ear earphone. Each bud is made from a hypoallergenic TPE material and the design element that’s standing out is that extension which is handy when you’d like to remove the Sennheiser SoundProtex Plus from your ears. Cleaning is easy — a simple rinse under the tap is enough to keep them clean. The filters are made from polycarbonate and polyurethane. The only real complaint here is that the compact carry pouch is incredibly difficult to clean on the inside.
The mid filter, for instance, blocks sounds between 16 decibels, or dB, and 19 dB. The high filter holds fort when the noise level is between 19 dB and 20 dB. With all other filters except the full block filter, the sound that does come through is taking away the harshness of volume, but retains an overall sense of what is happening. Albeit everything is softer, healthier for the ears. There are no muffled words or music, and the ears also don’t feel uncomfortable or warm after prolonged use of the Sennheiser SoundProtex Plus buds. Sennheiser says what filters through is Hi-Fi sound, but in essence there is always going to be a smoothening of that edge and some finer details will get lost. But isn’t that the intent with this health focused product anyway?
The Sennheiser SoundProtex Plus at ₹2,990 isn’t exactly expensive. It is affordable enough for a hearing protection wearable, and believe me when I say this from experience, ear troubles are excruciating. Even more so when you don’t know the exact reason why they’ve happened. The sensible thing is, why risk such a scenario, knowingly? I’d classify the SoundProtex Plus as a must have for anyone who is often exposed to loud work or entertainment environments, and also for regular travellers (noise cancelling headphones can be more detrimental in the long term). These set certain expectations from the outset, and the simplicity of it is a bonus with the fact that these buds absolutely deliver on those expectations.