It's simply crazy that more guitarists don't use hearing protection, considering how important hearing is for musicians.

In fact, most musicians never wear ear plugs. Most of us spend our teens going to very loud gigs, playing loud gigs in pubs and clubs (with cranked 100 watt stacks). In many cases musicians begin to notice mild tinnitus and will just ignore it. They don’t go to a doctor, or start protecting their hearing. Even with mild tinnitus, going to sleep to a faint whistling sound can be (most times) ignored, but some days it can actually be very annoying.

Hearos ear plugs are one of the most popular brands with musicians. Other foam ear plugs can be a real downer, (especially if you obsess over your guitar tone then stick a lump of foam in your ears it is quite depressing), everything sounds terrible.

Hearos music ear plugs are designed to reduce the volume without removing all of the high and low frequencies and turning the sound to mush. The High Fidelity Hearos are like a master volume for your ears which is exactly what tone loving guitarists need. These ear plugs only cost around $12 and are reusable which is a small price to pay to save your hearing, if you really want to splash out Etymotic Research have a product that only activates when the volume reaches a certain level to stop sudden volume spikes damaging your hearing and amplify very quiet sounds, these seem to be popular with Orchestral musicians.

If you play in a band or go to a lot of gigs, do yourself a favour sooner rather than later (like most) and start using ear plugs. Tinnitus is not fun and if you lose all the top end from your hearing you are going to compensate by cranking the presence or treble on your amp which will sound terrible to everyone but you.

Read More - Hearos High Fidelity Ear Plugs.