Windy City commuters swear by earplugs, according to the Chicago Sun Times blog “The Ride.”

Writes Mary Wisniewski:

After doing research for today’s story on L noise, I got spooked about riding in the subway without ear protection. It’s very noisy down there, and hearing is my favorite of the five senses. So I tried the advice of experts and wore foam ear plugs on my commute to work. It felt….definitely weird. I felt like I had a bad head cold. But here was the unexpected result — when I got to my stop and took the earplugs out, I felt calm. Peaceful. It proved the proposition that noise not only can cause hearing loss, but stress.  

The subsequent readers’ comments about loud cell-phone conversations, cursing and announcements regarding “suspicious behavior” is quite amusing. Seems New York does not have the monopoly on the holy trinity of annoying commuter behavior.