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‘I don’t care about looking weird’: are we finally listening to the dangers of hearing loss?

As cases of tinnitus rise, earplugs for live music are becoming more popular – as is the deeply uncool act of asking for the volume to be turned down

Loop partnered with prestigious UK dance festival Houghton, while rival player Alpine had concession stands at Boomtown, Elrow, All Points East and BST Hyde Park. For Jono Heale, a director of ACS Custom – whose moulded earplugs are considered music industry-standard – this stigma-free marketing is long overdue: “A few years ago, festivals felt they were admitting some kind of liability if they had us there. Marketed as jewellery … Loop earplugs.Olivia Swash, a music journalist and podcast producer, started experiencing a mild form of tinnitus in her early 20s: “After going to gigs, bars or clubs that are too loud, without wearing earplugs, the ringing will be much worse for days afterwards.” She wears her Apple AirPods Pro on noise-cancellation mode at gigs – a recent New York Times study, while advocating for proper earplugs, showed that this reduces the decibels reaching your ears.

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