Does anyone allow / use earbuds with dampers? It's not an audio enhancement available in earbuds in the RAW but it seems reasonable right?
(At least as reasonable as contacts with flare compensation, right?)

Yeah, ask your GM... but I want a consensus from the dumpshock aficianados...

Sure.

I'm not quite sure which implant you're referring to, but isn't that the whole point of earplugs? It's why I wear 'em around chainsaws. Sure, I can't hear a dang thing...but at least I'm capable of hearing at all!

That said, earplugs with advanced selective-filter DSP engines capable of variable attenuation, speech recognition, and noise reduction already exist. They're called hearing aids - it's the reason they cost $3,000. In the future, you'll likely find all of these in a pair of $50 custom-fit workman's earplugs.

It's kinda weird when the technology of real life starts to catch up with Shadowrun, eh?

Well, contacts can do their flare comp because they completely cover the light input area of the eye. Short of the foam earplugs, there's still gaps in the ear to let sound in, and dampers wouldn't likely work as well as you'd expect. If they've adapted the earbuds had the expanding foam to help fit, then maybe the damper would work at full effect.

You don't need to use exclusionary systems to reduce noise.

Moulded-silcone earplugs have a SNRR as good or better than foam plugs. They're very popular for those working in and around heavy equipment all day. Some even have headphones built in.
http://www.stereophile.com/headphones/1204ultimate/

Combine a vastly better version of said headphone with a tiny amplifier, DSP engine, and microphone (on the outside), and you have yourself some earplugs that let in only what you want them to.

i recall the norwegian military was testing a system that allowed the gunfire and engine noise to be reduced, while voices where heard just fine.

hmm, seems it was a combo of a radio and sound dampening, rather then some kind of selective filter...

anyways:
http://www.sintef.no/Home/Information-and-...h-environments/
http://www.nacre.no/index.asp

Wow, that's realy something.

surefire sells a set of plugs that supposedly let everything in that's below 80db, and dampen anything above, no electronics/batteries needed.

heard good things, but haven't tried myself, trees don't grow in the midwest.

I guess friendly fire will happen a lot more often,once those are supplied to the troops O.o

not sure i follow your reasoning for making that statement.

If you can't hear explosions/gunfire, how do you know to stay in cover, as long as you don't see the muzzle flashes?

i dont think the idea is to kill the sound outright, but make it less damaging to the soldiers hearing.

from what i can tell, it will remove peaks, and in general dampen it to a degree thats tolerable over time, but not remove it completely.

poking around the second link will provide a nice amount of info, seems even the US Army is interested in using the system

The mentioned Surefire plugs are current issue in the US Army. They do reduce the noise, but not remove it completely. The nice thing about them is that you can still hear your sergeant yelling orders while the GPMG is chopping away right next to you.

People don't understand just how loud gunfire really is, or how fast it can totally screw up your hearing. I'm astonished how few military people I know had considered using things like comtacs when deployed.

I, for one, am a living example of nerve damage to the ear from repetitive and excessive weapons fire in the militay...

I Have about at 70% Loss to the right ear (I am right handed) and about 45% loss to the left ear... More damage to the right ear because of some of the weaapons that I fired, including shoulder mounted rockets and missiles...

Oh Well, wish I had some GOOD earplugs back then... We generally only used earplugs on the firing ranges (not in combat zones), and generally for the more abusive, accoustically unfriendly, weapons (SMAW anyone?)