The occlusion effect, why your own voice sounds strange with earplugs

Thijs Worm4 October 2026Updated 23 October 20266 min read

Crew member at a festival wearing a custom earplug

The occlusion effect is the hollow, booming sound of your own voice when your ear canal is blocked by an earplug. Vibrations from your voice reach the ear canal through your skull and cannot escape. As a result, the low tones in particular, below about 1000 Hz, sound louder than normal.

Almost everyone who wears earplugs for the first time notices it. You talk and your voice sounds as if you are inside a barrel. Chewing, swallowing and footsteps also suddenly sound different. In this article, you will read where this comes from, why it is stronger with some earplugs than with others, and what a vent, the filter and the fit have to do with it.

A good fit starts with an impression of your ear, which a partner hearing centre takes for you. The ear impressions are included in the price and you pay at the hearing centre.

How does the occlusion effect happen?

You hear your own voice by two routes. The first route is through the air. The sound leaves your mouth and enters your ear canal via your outer ear. The second route is through bone conduction. Your voice makes the bones and tissues of your head and neck vibrate, and those vibrations also bring sound into your ear canal.

Normally, that sound can simply escape from the ear canal. If there is an earplug in your ear, that way out is blocked. In the journal Acta Acustica (2025), researchers describe what happens then. An earpiece that seals the ear raises the level of sound transmitted through bone conduction, especially below 1 kHz, while sound that comes in through the air is reduced at higher frequencies. That change in sound pressure at the eardrum is called the objective occlusion effect.

Why your own voice in particular?

Sound from outside reaches you mainly through the air, and the earplug reduces that. Your own voice, chewing and footsteps largely come in through bone conduction. It is exactly that part that is amplified. The effect differs from sound to sound. According to the same research, it is strongest with closed vowels such as 'ee' and weaker with open vowels such as 'ah'. Try it yourself and say 'eeee' and then 'aaah' with your fingers in your ears.

Why some earplugs cause more occlusion than others

The occlusion effect is not a fixed value. According to the Acta Acustica publication, it depends on four things.

The insertion depth, meaning how deep the earpiece sits in the ear canal;
The contact with the wall of the ear canal, meaning where and how the earpiece touches it;
The design of the earpiece, for example whether it has an opening or venting;
Individual factors, such as the shape and flexibility of your ear canal.

That explains why two people with the same earplug can experience the effect very differently, and why the same person notices it differently with a foam earplug than with custom earplugs. According to the researchers, the link between the measured change and how annoying someone finds it is also often weak. It is partly a personal experience.

A vent as a release valve

The best-known passive solution is venting, a small opening or vent in the earpiece. It lets part of the sound generated by bone conduction escape again. The Acta Acustica publication states that well-dimensioned venting helps to control the occlusion effect, but does not remove it completely.

There is a downside, though. An opening that lets sound out also lets sound in. According to the same source, reopening the ear canal reduces the passive sound insulation. For hearing protection, that is an important point. The more you 'open' the ear, the less the earpiece itself reduces sound. So it is always a matter of finding a balance between comfort and protection.

	Fully sealed	With venting or an opening
Own voice	Sounds more hollow and fuller in the low tones	Sounds more natural. The effect is reduced but does not disappear completely
Sound from outside	Maximum passive seal	Less passive insulation

The role of the filter

In custom earplugs with an acoustic filter, the opening in the earpiece is there for a reason. The filter determines which sound is allowed through. This way, you combine a sealing fit with controlled attenuation. Dynamic Ear Company, the manufacturer of the membrane filters that Audibling uses, states that the filters contain breathable acoustic materials that keep the ear ventilated and comfortable.

The filter you choose mainly affects how the outside world sounds. According to Dynamic Ear, the DM filters reduce sound as evenly as possible across all tones, which keeps music and speech natural. Light DR filters mainly reduce high tones. Why that means the neighbours' bass is reduced less than their voices is explained in earplugs for noisy neighbours. You can read about the differences between all the series in filters in custom earplugs explained and on our filter page. More about the different types of filters is in tube filters and membrane filters.

Why a custom fit helps

Because insertion depth and contact with the ear canal help determine how strong the effect is, the fit matters. A universal earplug sits slightly differently each time. Arboportaal, the Dutch government's website on working conditions, warns that earplugs are not always inserted correctly. A custom earplug is made from an impression of your ear, so it sits in the same place every time, provided you insert it correctly. This makes the effect more predictable, and the hearing care professional can take your ear canal into account when taking the ear impressions. How the ear impressions are taken is explained in how is an ear impression made? How to insert your earplug correctly is explained in inserting custom earplugs step by step.

What exactly custom earplugs are and how they differ from regular earplugs is explained in our overview article what is an otoplastiek?

Tips if your own voice bothers you

Do not choose more attenuation than you need. How much attenuation you need depends on the noise level. Read how loud is too loud? Decibels and hearing damage explained
Choose a filter that suits your situation. For music and communication, a flat attenuating DM filter is often pleasant, for example in earplugs for music or earplugs for motorcycling.
Have the fit checked. Does a custom earplug press, feel loose or does everything sound different from before? Then have a hearing care professional take a look. Use book an appointment to find a partner hearing centre. What you can check yourself first is explained in when custom earplugs press or hurt.
Keep the filter clean. A dirty filter can change how things sound. How to keep the filter clean is explained in cleaning custom earplugs.

Not sure which combination suits you? In the collection custom earplugs, you can see the standard filter for each use, and in the Designlab you choose the filter, material and colour yourself.

Frequently asked questions

Why does my voice sound hollow with earplugs in?

Because your ear canal is sealed, the sound of your voice that reaches your ear canal through your skull can no longer escape. The low tones below about 1000 Hz in particular sound louder as a result. That is called the occlusion effect.

Can the occlusion effect disappear completely?

According to research, well-dimensioned venting can control the effect, but not remove it completely. How strongly you notice it also depends on the fit, the design and your own ear canal.

Is a bigger vent always better?

No. A bigger opening lets more sound out, but also more sound in. That reduces the passive attenuation. So with hearing protection, you look for a balance between comfort and protection.

Do custom earplugs cause less occlusion effect than foam earplugs?

That varies from person to person and from design to design. But because of their fixed fit, custom earplugs sit in the same place every time, and Audibling custom earplugs always contain an acoustic filter that lets sound through in a controlled way.