I have to wear them now. I really think that if I drive after a concert without them I would endanger others on the road.

I have to wear them now. I really think that if I drive after a concert without them I would endanger others on the road.

but that's because you can't drive
just kidding

At rehearsal they are a fuckin´ must-have. Being a drummer my ears have taken some serious beating, for example I cant stand the sound of two plates smacked together, the ears go WOOOF. Cymbals especially is a bitch, beware..
It´s weird though, scientists have found that if you enjoy the loud sounds, the ears don´t take as much damage as if say, you were listening to Jenifer Lopez(or loud noise that you don´t like).

I hate what earplugs do to the experience at a live show, so I tend not to wear them. I only go to a few big shows per year though (3-5) and don't play in a band... if I was exposed to more noise I'd definitely use them.

[Blazingmonga]

I think it is worth investing in some good plugs, both for playing and watching a show. The ones you can get for musicians that dont distort the sound are good.

I have had problems with ear damage before, and I have been very lucky, but I dont take any chances no more.

There were a few weeks were I couldnt hear through one ear at all and it was really scary, the thought of not being able to hear music was terrible.

Dont fuck with your ears!

Any musician or anyone who goes to gigs regularly needs to think how valuable their hearing is to them and how much it would suck to not be able to experience those things properly anymore - decision made!

I am a drummer but I don't need earplugs because I always play with the metronome, so I wear the headphones. The click volume is pretty high, but I think it's less dangerous that playing without ear protection...

At the live shows I hate them. I prefer not using it.

I wear them to every concert I see. I have hereditary hearing loss, so that's bad enough without adding more damage to the pile.

depends on the situation. I find that I never wear them at arena or ampitheatre shows but they are a must in clubs. For some reason, every sound guy on earth must put the monitors up to ear splitting distorto volume in a club. I find that the plugs actually help with differentiating the instruments and killing some of the echo in the room. I don't particularly like wearing them but I certainly notice the difference in the actual quality of the music I'm listening to. Plus, It's a fact man, too many shows and you'll go deaf. That is simply not cool.

Don't wear 'em. Don't do any difference, other than muffling the sound a little. Never needed 'em at any gig that I have been in the crowd, never needed 'em in a gig with my band!

One of my friends wears them to gigs a lot but then he doesn't touch doorhandles.

Since i started shooting, i ALWAYS wear earplugs. The security guys do, and since i'm working in the same area, it's a good idea for me to as well.

My weapons of choice: Etymotic ER-20



they don't muffle the sound like crappy foam plugs, they just drop the volume level.

Well I´m a really young and poor lad, so I´ve only been on one concert in my whole life, and that one was without ear plugs. In the beginning it really hurt my ears, but after a while I got used to it. But I guess I´m gonna start using ear plugs in the future becouse I know what can happen. Last summer I was listening to my walkman all the time and I always had it on the highest volume, and by the end of the summer vacations my hearing was actually quite damaged. I didn´t get tinnitus, but I heard everything with MUCH lower volume whitch coused lots of trouble in school when I sometimes had a hard time hearing what the teacher was saying. Well I was lucky becouse when I started to listen to music with normal volume level, my hearing slowly turned normal again and I´m have it coming back becouse of concerts!!!

I wear them while performing and jamming but not at live shows, I know it's a mistake but I just can't bring myself to do it. Everyone who thinks you don't need them will regret it, pure and simple. That ringing you get in your ears at night, will one day make you deaf. The second you hear ringing you've got permenant damage, if your playing shows without earplugs and not hearing ringing, turn it up dude!!!!

I'm so pro earplugs! I have to not only sleep but just always have music on personally, the tinitus drives me mad. Wear earplugs, be smart! Like condoms for your ears, they might look dumb, and all the 'cool kids' will tell you not to wear em, but man, those kids are going to regret it bad! Use ear protection, it's just too helpful a thing to do to try to justify any reason not to.