minuendo the innovative new hearing
protection manufacturers founded in 2018
released their first product in the
summer of 2021 the lossless earplugs in
this video i'm going to unbox them and
give my first impressions
my name is matthew allsop and i'm all
about helping those with hearing loss
enjoy the best quality of life with
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minuendo have gone for a sleek
minimalist cube design for this unboxing
experience with the cleverly packaged
box containing the lossless earplugs
instruction manual a selection of 11
sets of different ear tips a cleaning
brush neck cord and finally carry case
there is not a millimeter of free space
available in this neatly packaged
container although i've had a set of
these earplugs for around 12 months now
i haven't really had the opportunity to
test and review them properly as the
world has been on lockdown so now i'm
really happy to share my experiences as
both the end user of this product plus
share my thoughts as an audiologist and
where i think they could positively be
recommended to anybody interested in
hearing protection
whilst this is the first product
released by minuendo they have
definitely found a gap in the hearing
protection world with the lossless
earplugs their mission statement is to
increase awareness about hearing loss
protection and to provide a product that
musicians can use to make their auditory
experience safe whilst at the same time
maintain audio quality
having won the red dot design award for
the product they've certainly found a
way to get noticed very early on
up until now we've seen two main types
of off-the-shelf hearing protection for
musicians
firstly generic foam earplugs
whilst they're a great option at
protecting hearing the downside is that
they also attenuate so much so that the
natural resonant peaks that occur in the
ear canal are also lost so not only is
sound reduced but the fidelity
disappears too resulting in let's say
call it a disconnection with one's
musical instrument band or even the
audience
secondly we have generic plugs which
have attenuation filters built into them
you'll pay a little bit more for a set
of these generic plugs however it's
worth paying the extra because they
allow a certain amount of natural sound
both in and out and the attenuation
creates more of a flat response
this in turn means that the disconnect
that i was referring to in the previous
type of plugs is reduced and one would
experience more of a transparent
listening experience
of course there are also the gold
standards in terms of hearing protection
which are not off the shelf such as
custom-made hearing protection with
interchangeable attenuation filters and
in-ear monitors which require a lot more
tech to work and are unaffordable for
the majority of musicians both of which
require an earmold to be taken of the
ear and for the hearing protection to be
custom made
this is where minuendo have nicely found
a gap in the market
with any of the plugs with attenuation
filters the attenuation is normally
fixed meaning that you need to choose
the level of attenuation when you buy
them or you need to swap the filters out
which is alright but not ideal as it
means doubling up in terms of kit and
therefore costs the lossless earplugs
clever design are the world's first
attenuation plugs that allow the user to
adjust the level of attenuation using
the attenuation lever whilst the
earplugs are in situ removing the need
to switch between different attenuation
filters if the user wishes to change the
sound level this level of sound
attenuation ranges from seven decibels
when in open mode to a whopping 25
decibels when in closed mode depending
on the types of tips used the guide
provides a full spec sheet on the mean
attenuation including standard deviation
and assumed protection depending on the
tip style and size used the only thing
that i think that minuendo could have
improved upon with the design is having
either markers or a click point to give
the user an understanding of the level
of attenuation that they were
experiencing whilst using them whilst
i've tried them i know exactly where i'm
at when it comes to them being open at 7
decibels and closed at 25 decibels but i
don't know if the scale is linear so if
the midpoint exactly means halfway
between 7 to 25 decibels if i was
regularly exposing myself to loud sound
i would personally like to know the
level of protection that i was providing
my ears with
at the same time it would be helpful to
know if i had the attenuation set to the
same level in each year for example i
personally also have quite slim fingers
and had no issues adjusting the
attenuation lever however i can imagine
that it may be potentially a little bit
more challenging for some people with
larger fingers and smaller ears i really
like the teardrop shape sleek design
with the chrome ring which catches the
light nicely surrounding the minuendo
logo
it pulls us away from the ugly generic
plugs that i've ridiculously almost felt
embarrassed to wear in the past i think
that the use of these stretches far
beyond musicians and i will have no
issues taking these along to a festival
or gig knowing that i'll be protecting
my hearing and actually looking pretty
cool at the same time they weigh next to
nothing which is a bonus when they're in
the ear as they don't feel heavy and
i've been able to wear them for an
extended period of time without them
causing any aches or pain in my ears
this does come with its disadvantages
too however as from a build perspective
they feel like there's nothing to them
and if dropped or sat on which let's
face it we're all likely to do at some
point they would potentially
disintegrate they do come with a 10-year
warranty however so minuendo seem
confident with the build for the most i
feel that they could feel a little
hardier however i wouldn't want that to
be at the cost of the comfort for
musicians that will potentially need to
take them in and out they're ready to
have a neck cord attached so that they
can be thrown over the shoulder which
should stop them from being lost
attaching them was incredibly easy and
is a nice additional feature from a
security point of view with the chrome
rings that i was talking about before
being magnetic this also means that
they'll latch together for safe storage
from my experience i found that the foam
tips did give me a far better acoustic
seal than any of the other flange tips
and were nice and comfortable too after
they'd expanded to the shape of my ear
canals of course unless the seal is
completely tight in the ears there's no
point in having the things in at all so
it's great that the lossless earplugs
come with 11 different options to go
with i'd recommend foam tips every time
the instruction manual recommends to
compress the foam tips before insertion
and hold them in position for them to
expand and fill the ear for about eight
seconds
even with the large foam tips i still
found the tips incredibly comfortable in
fact almost as comfortable as my custom
made molded hearing protection saying
that if you prefer you can also have
custom silicon sleeves made for the
shape of the ear and they can be set
into the lossless plugs which would give
them an even tighter seal than any of
the 11 sets of tips provided
from a hearing protection point of view
there is definitely a nice flat
frequency response providing a decent
amount of hearing protection and sound
reduction whilst preserving the tonal
balance when i listened to speech and
music and there felt like very little if
any compromise in terms of quality of
sound this means that when wearing them
it is still possible to hear people
speak and when listening to music i
could still hear the finer details
especially in those higher frequencies
around three to six kilohertz
the carry case is four and a half
centimeters by eight by three so it fits
neatly into my pocket inside the carry
case there is a cleaning brush and the
neck cord the brush is useful to remove
any wax off the end of the lossless
earplugs and can clean the ports
it also has a magnet built into it which
i've not yet discovered the purpose of
i've also found that in practice i've
been recommending these for patients
with hyperacusis or sensitivity to loud
sounds whilst it's not ideal if you
suffer with hyperacusis to fully occlude
the ears and live in a world of silence
with the lossless earplugs this could at
least help to provide some level of
attenuation without completely occluding
everything and you could gradually wean
yourself off using them so i do think
that the lossless earplugs by minuendo
are great addition to my toolbox in the
quest to save my ears and delay the
onset of hearing loss and further
tinnitus i think that the application of
these products is greater than perhaps
minuendo realize i do feel that they've
pitched them at quite a high price point
and are competing with a set of custom
made hearing protection plugs which
would normally retail at around 140
pounds in this sense they are looking at
breaking into that market rather than
competing with generic foam earplugs
saying that the usp that they have with
the variable filters is certainly
convenient and will definitely appeal to
a lot of you out there i'll put a link
to their website if you're interested in
getting yourself a set i hope you found
this video useful guys if you haven't
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you in the next video