I agree. I carry earplugs (the soft, waxy kind) in my purse. I use them on airplane flights and subways. I've learned that on long flights I can listen to music right through the earplugs. It needs to be high-pitched music, though, such as flute, violin, soprano.

You haven't heard anything insipid till you've heard a Beethoven symphony with all the bass blocked out. We experienced something similar in the car - ragtime piano with the bass line drowned out by car noise. It's just not the same.