tl;dr – get yourself these with ER15 and never look back, that’s what I use, but you’re free to check other products on your own 🤣
So many people ask me about hearing protection that I thought I’d bring it up here.
From the early stage of my music career, I’ve been using hearing protection during my DJ sets and live performances. In clubs and on stage, it might be deafening, and as I like listening loud due to the physical aspect of the sound hitting your body, our ears are not as forgiving as our stomachs in that matter 🙂
So firstly, back in the day, I invested in some Alpine Music Hearsafe plugs, which were okay for listening to music in clubs, but due to their one-size-fits-all build, they could have been more comfortable for performing. So, if you’re listening, go for such a product. It might be a good fit, and it’s not that expensive.
If you’re doing music on stage, I’d recommend investing your money in custom moulded earplugs. There are a few different companies which do such. What I chose back in the day was Elacin products. They offer musician earplugs with three filters: 10dB (ER9), 16dB (ER15), 23dB (ER25). I have experience with the 16dB and 23 dB. The 16dB version is the best fit for me for listening and performing due to the flattest attenuation response; it’s also an optimal choice for smaller and bigger sound systems. The 23dB version is a little too much for my taste and critical listening in the club environment (4kHz dip), but it is good for a huge sound festival experience. In Elacin plugs, the filters are swappable so that you can have different versions depending on the need.
To get such earplugs, you’ll need to get your ears impressions; this can be made in most places doing hearing aids at your living place. Which will be the best? I can’t answer that and the best way of knowing would be to ask the company which makes the earplugs itself or to call a few places for information about who would do the product you need. The one important thing is to check if the impressions are made deep enough! I’m having right now the second pair of such earplugs, and they fit much better than the previous, which were too shallow and sometimes could fall out during action.
The cost of such earplugs is about 200e. I’ve paid for a pair of about 160e in 2020. The additional filters cost 68e and can be bought for example at Thomann (2024).
What to expect by using earplugs with proper filtering:
- obviously – hearing protection, loud music might damage your hearing very fast 🙂
- no ears ringing after the party
- no headaches – at least no from the sound exposure 🙂
- more pleasing sound in your ears while maintaining physical feeling and punch
- better human voice understanding in a loud environment
- at the beginning, everything might sound a little strange, but you’ll get used to it very quick
- at the beginning, you might feel slight discomfort; wait until the earplugs warm up to your body temperature, and you’ll forget you even wear them
And last thing, I’m not sponsored or endorsed by any custom earplugs company; the sole intention of this article is to help my friends and followers with friendly advice on hearing protection. All described here is my own experience after using the products. Decide on your own what would be the best fit for you. Check the product sites and descriptions, check if the maker provides some more information about the earplugs, like attenuation frequency characteristics
Some links:
Info:
Products: