knops adjustable ear plugs let you turn down the volume of real life sounds

ever wish you could just turn down the volume on outside noise, or mute background chatter like you mute your television? luckily, dutch startup knops are on the same wavelength and have created a rather good-looking device that works as a ‘volume button for your ears.’ founded by musicians, knops is designed to give the wearer full control over the surrounding sounds they hear. the design sets out to protect the ears from loud noises, preventing long-term damage.

knops is acoustically engineered as a volume button for your ears

aptly suited to wear all day long, the ‘volume’ of background noise can be adjusted by turning the simple knob on the side of the knops. while step one will allow you to hear as you would without the plugs, step two can cancel the background noise of a vibrant city, step three is meant for dulling down a loud music concert, and step four creates a little bubble of isolated silence. with no need for unplugging and plugging back in, knops are ergonomically engineered to stay in all day long.

the design is influenced by a traditional volume button

the musical heritage of knops’ founders even filters down to the product’s aesthetic design, which is based on the look of a classic round button, with the inside shaped like a gramophone cone. at a glance, the sleek-looking buds could even be mistaken for a statement piercing. to guarantee the best user experience, the knops team’ created prototype on prototype, testing these with actual users in real life from the very beginning, and taking their feedback on board. the final product is designed to bring the focus back to user experience—putting the wearer in perfect control of what they want to hear.

knops have four settings, ranging from natural hearing to noise cancellation