Saving a band director's hearing

I teach marching band in the Fall, and we often practice instead our bandroom. Standing in front of 20-piece drum line, 20-piece front ensemble with professional sound system, and an 80-piece hornline in a confined space is deafening...literally. I was looking ear protection that was in-ear, effective, but didn't muffle the sound. I need to be able to hear musical nuance without having to take the plugs in and out constantly. I found these Earasers on the guitar center website (http://www.guitarcenter.com/Earasers/Musicians-Plugs.gc). They allow me to hear everything clearly, but attenuate the frequencies that could be damaging to my hearing. They also allow me to speak at a conversational level with someone while in a very loud environment. Hearing is similar to sight. If you are in a dark room and someone shines a bright light at you, it inhibits your ability to see anything else in that room. If you block the light with your hand, all of a sudden you can see everything else in the room better because your eyes adjust to the darker environment without being blinded by the bright light. Hearing works in a similar way. If you're in a loud environment, you're not able to hear softer sounds because you are being "blinded" by the sound. Since the Erasers attenuate the damaging frequencies, you are able to hear more subtle sounds in the same loud environment than you were before.

Here's the drawback. Those little stems are attached to the filters, and can slip out after frequent use. This happened to me, and I was left with the sleeve in my ear, so I had to use tweezers to get it out. Since the first time it came out, I haven't been able to use them. Guitar center sells a maintenance pack for Erasers that includes extra sleeves and a cleaning tool. I highly suggest purchasing this along with your Erasers.