My over-ear Nokia BH-910's are not top of the line but they do a fair job of reducing low-frequency noise while still allowing me to hear louder conversation nearby and announcements. But on my flights this week they were again uncomfortable after an hour or two. I wear glasses; the earpieces get squeezed by the phones. I can't see the monitor in front of me without them, so I'm stuck there.

The Etymotic HF-3's will arrive today. They have an app called Awareness that uses the mic in the cord to listen and feed outside sound above a settable threshold level into the phones--can it keep the screaming kids out but let me hear announcements? Next week and a half I"ll rack up about 24 air-hours and 6 train-hours, so here comes a good opportunity for test and comparison.