A manually, selectively attenuating earplug button, for insertion into a cavity of an earplug of a hearing protection device, is provided which includes a longitudinal central axis； a first opening to receive sound from an ambient environment； a second opening to output at least a portion of said sound； and an audio channel located between said first and second openings, said audio channel having a sound attenuation valve for permitting a wearer to manually adjust the amount of sound admitted to the wear's ear from said ambient environment. Also provided is a hearing protection device, including an earplug made of a soft resilient material having a hardness on the Shore A Durometer hardness scale, and an earplug button which is manually controllable by the wearer and capable of providing a plurality of sound attenuation settings, said earplug button disposed at least partially within a cavity of said earplug.
