Obligatory* “Look After Your Ears” Article

So, yes, I’m closer to 40 now than any other decadal anniversary. That’s scary as anything. But what’s more scary is the thought of losing my hearing or getting a raging case of tinnitus that would deliver a persistent and maddening high pitched whine. Sounds like torture to me.

Here’s where I tell everyone reading this to go buy yourself and everyone else you know who loves music a pair of Etymotic ER20 earplugs**.

I look at the kids these days dancing in front of the speakers at festivals and in clubs, and I think to myself: that’s going to cost them later.

Sure, by the time I hit 50 and start getting major hearing loss, I’m sure there’ll be some magical gene therapy eardrops that will allow me to regrow the insides of my burnt-out ears, but I’m not counting on it being as cheap as a couple of pints, so I’m looking after myself in the meantime.

What that means in practice is buying a pair of Etymotic ER20’s. (In the US, here.)

They go by a bunch of different names these days, as some bright spark realised too late that “Etymotic” wasn’t the catchiest name for a consumer product, but if you throw that into Amazon or Google shopping you’ll find what you need.

Now, why buy these instead of a pack of even cheaper foam plugs?

Well, foam plugs make the music sound like crap. But in my many years of experience using these, Etymotic’s own marketing bumph tells the truth, because when you’re wearing them you can still hear all the music: it’s just a little less loud. You can still hear people talking; it’s just that when they yell directly into your ear at the top of their lungs to make themselves heard over that music, you don’t flinch. You can even still hear idiots blowing whistles at raves: it’s just that you feel a little less like killing them as their whistle is all of a sudden not an icepick piercing directly into your brain.

The Ety’s are clear plastic and seethrough, and don’t stick out hardly at all. You don’t look like a complete geek: most everyone won’t even notice you have them in. You will enjoy all the music – perhaps even better, because you can dance in that open space right in front of that huuuuuuge speaker stack where no-one else wants to go because it’s way too loud, all without your head exploding!

And, yes, they do go pretty deep into your ears when you wear them properly, but I don’t find that uncomfortable at all and can easily wear them for hours. You use them over and over, wipe clean, and come with a nifty carry pouch. They last, in my experience, until you lose them. They’re also not so expensive that when you eventually do lose them that you have to break the bank to buy another pair.

Please: do yourself a favour and make sure you are enjoying the music for your entire life.

* Every music blog should have a post like this and it should be reposted at least once a year.

** Disclaimer: No one paid us any money to write this and I don’t work for these guys. But their products are literally the best money I’ve ever, ever spent on myself. And if you click any of those links and buy something, we don’t get paid – but we will be happy to have helped save your hearing!

And of course, leaving you with a fun, fun, and very cool mix by one of my new favourite DJs, Joris Voorn: