Having worked around heavy machinery and loud tools most of my life (farmer), I am used to having earplugs in, so not a problem for me. My hearing is still very good by their test but have lost some high frequency which is normal as we age unfortunately. I hate earphones in our temps and the loss of normal ambient sounds can be dangerous. Have used external speakers exclusively but they are a pain in windy conditions as volume has to be turned up and didn't realize how fatiguing the extra noise is until I used these. Please Note, I am not recommending these to anybody, just that they suit me very well.