I thought these were a nice idea when I had my MRI the other day, little did I know that I would barely be able to hear anything over the noise of the MRI machine. Ear plugs were better, kept out the noise of the MRI machine and let me drift into a trance.
I recently got an MRI and the technician asked me what I wanted to listen to on the headphones. I said "Something relaxing, do you have ambient music?". This turned out to be a terrible choice; the music was so quiet I could barely hear it. Earplugs would have been better. I had some in my pocket that I brought but it was too late. So after the claustrophobic panic subsided and I realized I was left in there with not…
Most (all?) vendors suggest this - they get well over 100db and the vendor headphones are pretty crappy.