Fact and Fiction

Under the New Zealand Health & Safety regulations, it may be necessary for you to wear hearing protection to protect your hearing.  This will depend on the amount of noise you are exposed to, however lots of people still won’t do it maybe because it is not cool enough to do so or because of their misconceived perceptions:

MYTH: If I wear earplugs, I won't be able to hear conversations with people.
FICTION: Actually, the opposite is true: people in very noisy environments usually find that they can hear conversations better with hearing protection.  This is because quality hearing protection reduce the level of the background noise. 

This will depend on the type of hearing protection that you use.  If you wear thick, foam earplugs (the disposable cheap kind!), you may find it harder to hear conversations, and to still enjoy the music.  However, if you wear custom-moulded musician hearing protectors, you will still be able to hear clearly, and the clarity of the music will not be affected.  Quality hearing protectors work by reducing the overall sound level that reaches your ear - usually by about 15 - 20 decibels - which means you can still hear the original music - but at a lower and safer volume.

MYTH: Earplugs look ugly, and aren't exactly very cool.
FICTION: When fitted properly, custom-moulded hearing protectors are barely visible at all.

Also, look at the people on stage – nowadays all serious DJs, rock stars and singers wear hearing protection whether discreetly or not.  They all know they have to look after their hearing because it is part of their job to be exposed to loud music everyday.  Why should it be any different for you?  Find out more about the musicians and DJs who use our products.

MYTH: You can get good quality, re-usable earplugs for the price of a CD.
FACT: Correct, you can get re-usable, filtered hearing protectors for around $30.00.

Although foam earplugs may seem cheaper, they can only be used once or twice, meaning that the cost to frequently replace them will add up to much more over time.  In addition, foam earplugs or other conventional earplugs block out a lot of sound, making it harder for you to hear warning signals and to hear people talking.  Therefore, if you are involved with or attend gigs or nightclubs, it is probably better, safer and more economical for you to invest in a pair of custom-moulded musician hearing protectors which you can re-use over and over again.

Find out more about people's experiences of wearing Elacin ER Musician Hearing Protectors.