I’ve tried foam earplugs, but those are impossible to use socially as everything’s too muddy. Also they’d end up sliding out eventually.
I eventually bought audiophile grade earplugs and they are FANTASTIC but the flange tips irritate my ears so bad.
I know circumaural headphones work great, but people have a harder time understanding I’m just using them as a filter to even hear them.
From what I understand this is incredibly common amongst us. Essentially picking out the "relevant" information is really hard when there's a lot of other loud signals blaring.
For my Sony headphones I have a slider to set how strong the noise cancellation is set. If it's set to anything lower than max/wind reduction you can check a box to amplify voices. It's pretty darn good.
From what I understand the Pixel Buds can also do this REALLY well, but I haven't used those. Lots of smart earbuds can do it these days, just expect to pay a couple hundred for it.