Muted hearing from ear plugs bugs the crap out of Me. It seems to interfere with my balance and rhythm/timing. I''m one of those people who get water in their ear just looking at the surf. So I bought a set of these to try out, and I''m stoked I did. Now I can hear everything perfectly. I can talk with the guys in the line up and hear the waves crash, in fact I have to keep checking them to make sure they didn''t fall out. I won''t buy a different plug, ever again.