Do you wear ear protector or defenders in public?

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I am curious how prevelent this is, and if you do wear them are you low functioning? Do you worry that others will perceive you negatively? If you do use them, do you have handler near by to keep you in control and safe?

Could you get some that look more like headphones, or do they really look like what builders wear?

I don't have sensory issues as bad as this, but sometimes I consider wearing them when I'm on the flippin' bus! People are so noisy! Headphones just don't cut it.

I don't have issue with this. I was only curious about others.

i wear them. they help a lot.

I just wear those or earphones with music playing. People perceive me negatively anyways. And I always have to have someone with me.

I wear my earbuds and listen to music on the bus because as Wind mentioned, people can be ungodly loud on buses. Earbuds work pretty well in "muffling" sounds for me, and I even wear them when I'm not listening to music, like in my room. I just feel safer with them in my ears. I wish I could wear them in public, but I get so anxious, I feel as if I need to be as aware of my surroundings as possible and be able to hear anything that might be trouble coming.

I wear 16NRR swimmers' or musicians' type earplugs whenever I'm outside, and 40NRRs when I need to block out noise.

No, only at home when necessary. Earplugs when stressed. Most of the time I wear one earplug in my left ear because it's more sound/pressure sensitive than my right. If I block out one ear, generally I can process okay with the other.

I have two sets -one pair of actual headphones which I wear almost all the time to buffer sounds and help me focus. The second are heavy-duty work earmuffs for construction workers. Those I wear whenever I feel like I need silence either to help me get work done or when I've been in a really high sensory environment.

I do this too. Whenever I'm riding the train home, I'll just stick my earbuds in and listen to music. It helps to drown out a lot of the quiet noises that I find irritating, like paper rustling and people scuffing their feet.

I get paranoid whilst using headphones in public, especially on public transport. I have no problem wearing them out in the woods, fields meadows etc while I walk my dog though (but not them in ear things), it seems people put me on edge. I don't generally have a problem with noise outside but a few things do really get to me and one of those is heavy traffic on wet tarmac. Especially when waiting for a bus on a main road, i have never heard anyone complain about this but for me its a real pain, it really is intolerable but i really hate the feeling of having things in my ears too so i put up with the noise. My main problem with people on public transport is not really the noise they make, it's the utter rubbish they talk.

I have never heard of those. I have had musicians earplugs and I paid a whole lot of money for them but I was not happy with them. If these things work better I would most likely wear them everywhere.

I carry earplugs with me. They come in handy if I'm stuck in a waiting room at a hospital etc and there is a loud radio or squealing kids. I like to take a book in such places to pass the time waiting and the background noise drowns out the words in my book otherwise; plus the noise can be very annoying, especially kids.

i always carry in-ear protectors (together with my sunglasses) but i dont actually wear them unless the envorinment gets too much for me, i try to both train my resistance and try to prevent becoming dependant on these tools.

Before I started my current job, I would often have a set of earbuds or headphones with me, partly so that I could listen to music, but also partly just to block out the sounds of other people. People have gotten annoyed with me for wearing my headphones while they were trying to speak to me, and I once had a girl in high school give me crap about my headphones because she thought I was wearing a hair band (keep in mind, my hair was really long at the time, and would often partially cover the actual phones).

Nowadays, I leave my headphones at home, not because I want to, but because we're not allowed to wear them at our tills. It would work wonders to block out the horrible piped-in music and screaming kids though...

If I'm out, and not with somebody, I always wear headphones, and usually listen to audiobooks and podcasts, and occasionally music. I have always had a portable music player with me when I had to go out for whatever reason. I do this so as not to waste time which can be used to learn new things, and to distract myself from thinking about things which make me anxious, which I invariably do sans Ipod. I never do this when I am with someone as I recognise it is disrespectful and hurtful.

If I'm stationary, I'll read a book.