My Hearing Was My Career. 
Here's Why I Almost Lost It, and What Finally Changed.

Every night I spent in a booth, I was slowly making a choice I couldn't undo. The ringing after a set I used to treat as a normal part of the job. Some nights it faded by the next morning. Other times it stuck around for days. I knew what it meant. I just kept telling myself I'd deal with it later. Later came sooner than I wanted. That's when I got serious about finding something that would actually work. Protection that didn't cost me the ability to do my job.

by Sunnery James

 DJ, Producer & Hears Partner

4 minutes read

Note: I've been a Hears partner since the early days. The founders came to me because they were building something specifically for working DJs and musicians, and wanted input from someone living the problem. I said yes because the engineering was different. Everything below is why.

The real reason music artists don't like earplugs

The real reason music artists don't like earplugs

It's not that we don't know the risks. Every DJ and musician understands hearing damage is permanent. The problem is that every earplug we've tried made it impossible to do the job. The mix collapses. The high end disappears. You pull them out mid-set because you can't trust what you're hearing. Then you're back to taking the damage.

That's not a discipline problem. It's a product problem. And it has a specific, fixable cause.

"When I started DJing I thought loudness was just part of the job. But after a scary night where I couldn't sleep because of my ears, I got these. Now they're just as important as USB sticks in my bag."

Jere Karppinen, DJ  ★★★★★

Why most earplugs sound wrong, and what to look for instead

Why most earplugs sound wrong, and what to look for instead

Your ear canal naturally amplifies the frequencies where vocal presence, mix detail, and crowd energy live. The moment any earplug seals the canal, that amplification disappears. Standard hi-fi earplugs don't account for this. They measure flat in a lab. In your actual ear, they're cutting exactly what you need to read a room.

Hears was built by sound engineers who understood this problem. Their filter doesn't just reduce volume. It's specifically designed to restore the frequency balance you lose when the canal is sealed. The numbers show it:

Earplug Type

Low freq.

Mid freq.

High freq.

Hears (flat attenuation) 

-22dB

-23dB

-26dB

Standard hi-fi earplug

-10dB

-20dB

-35dB

Custom molds (standard filter)

-12dB

-22dB

-32dB

Every other option cuts 35dB from the high end while the low barely moves. That's the muffled, underwater sound that made you pull them out in the first place. Hears brings everything down together. The mix keeps its shape. The first time I played with them in, I reached up mid-set to check if they were still there. They were. The mix just sounded right.

"The sound is crisp, to the point where it's not entirely clear if they're working or not. But after 3 hours in a rehearsal room, my ears are not ringing. So they must be working. It kinda doesn't make sense. But it also does."

Benjamin Plunkett, drummer, verified buyer ★★★★★

Protection you actually keep in

Protection you actually keep in

Hearing damage doesn't announce itself. Most people start taking it seriously after the ringing doesn't go away for three days. By then, damage has been accumulating for a long time. The only protection that works is the kind you keep in for the full set.

At 105dB in the booth, Hears brings you to around 80dB, out of the damage zone, fully in the music. That's the difference between earplugs you wear and earplugs you carry.

"Best protection I have experienced compared to earplugs from other companies — but more than the protection, the clarity is outstanding and I need that to still hear the music in large arenas and music events that I perform at. I highly recommend the Hears Plus to other professional DJs and backstage teams."

DJ Hurley [MKFM], Arena DJ ★★★★★

"When I started DJing I thought loudness was just part of the job. But after a scary night where I couldn't sleep because of my ears, I got these. Now they're just as important as USB sticks in my bag."

Jere Karppinen, DJ  ★★★★★

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Hours later, you don't feel them

Hours later, you don't feel them

Standard earplugs stay in by compressing against the canal wall. That pressure is what makes them painful after 90 minutes and why they come out. Hears uses a wing that locks into the natural ridge of the outer ear, no inward pressure, four tip sizes, stays put through a full set.

Better than my €600 custom molds

Better than my €600 custom molds

Custom molds fix the fit. They don't fix the sound. Unless the filter compensates for the resonance you lose when the canal is sealed, you're still losing the same frequencies. 

A perfect fit with the wrong filter still sounds wrong. Hears Plus (-25dB) for stages and festivals. Hears One (-20dB) for rehearsals. Both combined cost less than one custom mold fitting.  And if you lose one on tour, you order a replacement that afternoon.

"I have a set of custom earplugs — that one is of course the best you could imagine — but I don't always carry these with me. Standard ear plugs make the sound go flat and take out all the sharpness. These Hears do not change the quality of the music, they only lower the volume. As a musician going to concerts and having rehearsals with my band, the Hears earplugs are a real revelation."

Piet Hanssens, musician with custom molds, verified buyer  ★★★★★

How it compares to what you've already tried

How it compares to what you've already tried

I've said no to a lot of partnerships. The reason I said yes here: this is the first earplug where the sound quality argument is real. Custom molds fix the fit but not the frequency imbalance. Every other hi-fi option sounds wrong for the same reason. Hears is the first thing I've used that addressed it at the engineering level.

Sound quality

Fit system

Price

Resonance fix

Hears

Flat across all freq.

4 tips + wing lock

€31-€40

Yes

Hi-fi earplugs

Uneven, highs cut

One size

€10–30

No

Custom molds

Better, still off

Perfect

€400–800

Rarely

Patented dual-tube filter with resonance compensation

Flat attenuation: L22 / M23 / H26 dB

4 tip sizes + wing lock, no canal pressure

Red Dot Award-winning design, 8 colorways

100-day money-back guarantee

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"As a club promoter and DJ I've been slowly damaging my hearing for years. These make a huge difference — no more tinnitus for days after a gig."

Lance Gilhooley, club promoter & DJ, verified buyer ★★★★★

"I've been using Loop earplugs for a while now and was interested by the 25dB ones since I am a DJ and am often in a loud environment. The sound is clearer, especially in the lower frequencies — it feels louder even though they cut more dB than the ones I used before."

Laurence Lessard-Jean, DJ, switched from Loop ★★★★★

"As a vocal coach, singer and musician who loves live music — it is very rare I leave reviews for products — but I was so impressed by Hears and how much clarity I got with the sound while protecting my ears."

Hannah Bartle, vocal coach & singer ★★★★★

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