I use wax earplugs when I'm traveling, because I'm very alert to
noise. (For two years in the U.S. Army, I was the last person to go to
sleep and the second one to wake up.) They've very effective. I have
to trim them down a bit, and you do have to be careful to keep them
clean.

Sporty's Pilot Shop sells a pair of ear plugs that I think are foam;
they're connected, so they don't get lost, or you can wear them around
your neck.

At the gym, where I find the music objectionable, I use a CD player
with Sony noise-canceling earphones that work very well with low-level
noise like airplane engines (jetliners, I mean) but not so well with
sudden noise like people speaking. I love it when the earphones go on
and the world gets quieter. Bose makes an even more advanced and more
expensive version.

Your cocktail party problem sounds like the complaints I hear from
people who wear a hearing aid!

all the best -- Dan Ford
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see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
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