Abstract: An earplug arrangement enables low cost manufacture and storage of earplugs and convenient dispensing of individual earplugs. The earplugs are formed from an extrusion of a maximum diameter of about 12 mm and with narrow locations spaced apart by about 1 to 5 cm to separate the extrusion into a chain of at least ten earplugs, where the last earplug of the chain of earplugs formed by the extrusion can be cut from the rest of the chain for insertion into a person's ear canal. The chain of earplugs is stored in a plurality of loops in a container, as in a plurality of loops wrapped about a cylinder. The extrusion can include a stiffening core of stiff first material and an extruded covering of a soft resilient foam second material surrounding the core, the thickness of the second material being less than half as great at the narrowed locations as at maximum diameter locations while the core is of uniform cross-section along the entire length of the extrusion.