producedby coating the mold surface with talcum powder before pouring in the foam material applicant finds that the outside of the earplug has a relativelylow friction against the skin which facilitates its removal from the ear and is substantially smooth and rejects the instrusion of dirt therein the flanged or flared rear end 14 of the earplug limits the depth of insertion of the earplug into the ear and also provides a region to be grasped to remove the earplug from the ear canal because of the flange users tend to roll only the bullet shaped or largely cylindrical body 12 while leaving the flanged end 14 at its full size this reduces the possibility of deep insertion of the compressed earplug into the ear and it reduces the difficulty of removing the earplug the main body portion of length l is of substantially uniform width u00b1 10 of the width d at the middle along a distance m which is most of the length of the main portion to facilitate grasping of the flanged rear end applicant includes a recess 40 in the rear of the earplug along the axis 20 to provide a thinner outer region 42 to facilitate grasping of this region topull out the earplug the recess 40 also avoids bulging of the rear end when the main body portion is compressed such bulging resisting full insertion of the main body portion in the ear canal fig7 and 8 illustrate another ear sound blocking member in the form of an earmuff portion or earmuff 50 which is formed of the same pressure molded slow recovery resilient foam plastic material as the earplug described above the earmuff 50 comprises at least a.