My TBI Survival Kit: The Ears Edition
I’ve joked about having a TBI survival kit, but at this point that’s pretty much exactly what it is.
Noise changed dramatically for me after my brain injury. Restaurants, bars, stores, crowds, music, or just three people trying to talk at the same time can turn into complete FUBAR static. Sometimes the room isn’t even that loud. My brain just reaches a point where it can’t separate what matters from everything else coming at it. Throw tinnitus into that mess and I learned pretty quickly that protecting my ears wasn’t about shutting myself away from the world. It was about finding ways to stay in it longer.
I’ve tried a bunch of different earbuds, earplugs and hearing protection. Some worked, some sucked, and a few became things I rarely leave home without. What I use depends on where I’m going, how noisy it will be, and how much protection my brain seems to need that day.
These are the ones that made it into my TBI survival kit.
Elgin Bluetooth Hearing Protection — These are the heavy hitters. ANSI-certified 31 dB noise reduction, but they’re also Bluetooth earbuds, so I can protect myself from a noisy environment while still listening to something I actually want to hear.
Amazon: https://amzn.to/4ptrHBQ
Loop Earplugs — Probably the easiest ones to carry everywhere. They take the edge off loud rooms without completely shutting everything out.
Amazon: https://amzn.to/44A0HXD
Alpine Hearing Protection — Another filtered option designed to reduce damaging or overwhelming noise while preserving more of what you actually want to hear.
Amazon: https://amzn.to/4gHkFqB
Eargasm High-Fidelity Earplugs — Great for places where I still want music and conversation to sound reasonably normal, just turned the hell down.
Amazon: https://amzn.to/4flpPGD
None of this is a cure for TBI, tinnitus or sensory overload. It’s adaptation. That distinction has become pretty important to me. Sometimes functioning better doesn’t mean your brain suddenly got better. Sometimes it means you finally figured out how to stop beating the shit out of it.
Remember less. Capture more. Heal together.
Project TBI