I love podcasts. You probably love podcasts. The problem is finding time to listen to them. I’ve started listening to some when I mow the lawn but the sound of the mower drowns out the sound of the podcast. I won’t wear my nice noise-canceling headphones out in the yard where they would probably get dirty, sweaty, and damaged. What to do?
Well, one of my favorite YouTubers, NighthawkinLight, came out with a video about how to make your own sound dampening earbuds. It is a two step process where you coat the earbud in silicone and replace the cups with better sound-blocking versions. I had an extra pair of earbuds from an old phone and so I thought I’d give it a try. Here are my results:
Overall, it is definitely an improvement from unmodified earbuds but it isn’t the noise-reduction bliss I had hoped for. Now instead of having the sound at un-safe maximum levels it is just loud. On the plus side, since the mower sound is reduced I’d say the overall sound level when mowing and listening to a podcast is no louder than mowing with no ear protection.
Let me know if you’ve come up with a solution that you really love or what your results are if you try this.
Jason Patz 
I use ear buds with 3M Peltor earmuffs on top. It works great when mowing.
what works for me is if I wear my earbuds with the hearing protector muffs you get at Home Depot/lowes. About $15/pair.
I have some cheapo earmuffs that I use when I’m working in the shop. I’ll have to try them over the earbuds and see how they do. Good idea guys.
Now I remember why I didn’t do this before. Both of my homecenter earmuffs don’t have room inside for earbuds to fit. Maybe those ones that Brian recommended will work. They look a lot deeper.
Jason i have used the ear plugs in conjunction with ear buds. Very carefuly cut center out of earplug. Then wrap around ear bud speaker with pretty good results
Hello Jason, you have a post up on ‘strata of the self’:
https://strataoftheself.wordpress.com/2015/08/09/jason-patz-mirrors-and-reflections/