3M - 101 Over-the-Head Earmuff

Holy wow! I think I am in love 😍! The headset arrived today. I popped them on. And then there was an awesome silence. I. Am. Trilled! I don’t HAVE to listen to the virtual meeting in the room next door! I can think when I want to and get things done during the most productive time of day for me! Regardless of who is around me! I stay up late - in large part because I have peace and quiet. Then, I want to sleep the next morning because I am groggy and sleepy from staying up late. And I am livid to be woken up by off-key asthmatic singing and loud music. Sometimes I actually am tired at night. And I end up having to turn up the sounds on my white noise app to distract my mind - cause if I get angry, I can forget about sleep. It will wake me all the way up. Then, there are times when I need to read, think, or study. It is hard is especially hard to have words being spoken when I am trying to write. I now have an office that is not my home office. This helps a lot. But, if I can not escape there for some reason, it is nice to have a non-electric solution handy. I feel more productive already! Can I sleep in it? Absolutely! I am able to sleep on my back. I loosened up the bad so that it does not squeeze so tight. And, it is pretty comfortable - the squeezing of my head is less and there is a seal but not suction. I think that this will work out even better than earplugs. I chose this option because I wanted something with a larger ear cup - so that I could wear my earrings and/or earphones underneath. I had read that this series had larger cups, but the 98 is ugly and the 105 is huge and ugly, So, I figured that this would be a middle of the road solution - solid black, moderate-to-very good silencing, and still from 3M, the leader in hearing protection. The ear hole looked alarmingly small. It’s not. The cavity is larger on the inside and necks down at the edge. So, I had to flip my earring loops up and fit each ear inside. They do look larger than regular headphones… ABH out 4 figure widths wide based on female hands. ( I have not yet tried earphones and earplugs underneath later.). I also choose these because of the quality construction. The big deal is that I am sitting here is near silence. And I am overjoyed! I feel like I have control over my life back. And I really have been tempted to move out just to escape loud bursts of laughter while listening to YouTube shorts for hours at night. It is so empowering to have options. If you are looking for high hearing protection that fits large ears (or ears with earrings, earplugs, or earphones in my case), is a more subtle color than bright yellow or red/black, and helps to silence noise, this is a great one to consider.