I almost always wear my 15dB-reduction ear plugs outside the house. Always wear them for highway driving, also for low speed driving if I'll have the radio on; usually wear them for instrumental music-making with more than 1 or 2 others (depending on the room and the players), rarely need them for a cappella singing. I wouldn't dream of entering a chain restaurant like Kelsey's or Boston Pizza without them. As for stores with too-loud music, I often will go in and tell them I need [what they sell] but shall buy it where the music volume does not cause me pain, and then I leave. I have no patience for noise pollution. While I'm grousing about pollution, I'll add my 2 cents about scent pollution too--both types are a problem in our back yard. Yes, lawnmowers and leaf blowers, etc., which are made all the worse from being accompanied by the wretched stink of "fresh scented" dryer sheets that literally sting my nostrils as much as leaf blowers sting my ears. I am not generally in favour of gated communities but if one opens up that restricts noise and forbids perfumes, I'll move there in a flash!