After using foam earplugs daily for 5 years my inner ears became very sensitive to the point that plugs caused extreme pain.

After a bit of research I found these https://www.happyearsearplugs.com/

These don’t go into the ear as far so aren’t painful. I feel the reduction in noise isn’t as good, but the frequency response is much more even. I wear these under noise cancelling headphones to watch TV and listen to music in total isolation. You do lose a bit of fidelity but it’s still very liveable.

Also, I get about 6 months to a year out of each pair which is less wasteful than foam earplugs.

There's also some great reusable earplugs which are much better for the environment than foam earplugs. Plus, it saves money long term vs buying a bunch of foam earplugs

https://us.loopearplugs.com/products/quiet

https://www.flareaudio.com/products/sleeep-pro

https://www.happyearsearplugs.com/ (which someone already mentioned on here)

I'm a big fan of Flents Quiet Contour: https://flents.com/collections/ear-plugs/products/quiet-cont...

I've never tried the 3M 1100s, though.

Agreed. I tried quite a few different ones before settling on these. I've used them for 10 years

You can usually get a box of 200 pairs for ~£20 on Amazon.

3m Peltor x5a also very good.