I tried the Loop Engage 2 earplugs
I ended up buying a pair of Loop Engage 2 earplugs. The headline feature is that they're supposed to be a selective filter, damping speech less than other sounds. A band-pass filter, in other words.
My actual problem is that I can't hear anyone in Aldi. There's so much commercial-grade refrigeration, and usually a floor cleaner when I'm there (late), crammed into such a small space.
The Engage 2 works great for that. It dampens the noise, but lets my wife's voice through unhindered. I didn't miss a single word this time. I actually noticed the difference in the parking lot: the trunk closed with a distant thud in the bass register, while a nearby car had a fan running in "voice" range that sounded as loud as ever.
Unfortunately, they do make my own voice sound louder to me, so I have to actively talk a little loud to be heard properly.
(I had been kind of concerned that they would work at all before purchasing. The Amazon reviews are filled with "wow! this is so amazing!!" but also have a few "this does not work!" reviews. They're both pretty light on detail.)
The silicone ear tips feel like my wired Jbuds, which are comfortable enough for maybe an hour. But that's fine, because I don't spend an hour in Aldi.
I had one other concern before buying: the "16 dB" figure advertised. The vibes were wrong. In fact, this is the European SNR rating, and the American NRR (measured over a smaller range of frequencies) is 8 dB. This would be a neat thing to explain on the product page, not in reply to random angry users' social media posts, but here we are.
(Not that the exact dB rating matters to me. I just need it to work. The problem is that the fuzziness about it makes them look bad, and they did it to themselves. There is no need for this.)
Would I recommend this product? Overall, yes; it's a decent short-term, local solution to a global problem. But they weren't cheap. I can only recommend them if they fit the shape of a problem that needs to be solved.
4/5, does what it says, but a star gets cut for the dB claim.