Yes, You Should Be Wearing Earplugs to Concerts. Specifically, These Earplugs.

Noise-induced hearing loss—which is believed to affect about 26 million US adults under the age of 70 and is, in all cases, irreversible—can start to occur whenever your ears are exposed to sounds above 70 decibels for prolonged periods of time. (A conversation at normal speaking levels is about 60 decibels, but keep in mind that decibel levels aren’t linear. In fact, 70 decibels is about twice as loud as 60 decibels.) The louder the sound, the quicker it can inflict damage.

Depending on a venue’s size and structure, live music can reach up to 110 decibels or more. At such high levels, hearing loss (both temporary and permanent) can start to occur in as little as five minutes or less.

Although earplugs that are designed for concerts (also known as universal-fit or musician-style earplugs) aren’t your only option for protection, we’ve found that they offer the best overall performance in loud, lively social settings. Simple foam earplugs designed for sleeping can cost just a few bucks, but they’re less likely to stay in place and might deliver a sound that’s too muffled, which could tempt you to just go without them.

Senior staff writers and Wirecutter headphones experts Lauren Dragan and Brent Butterworth have written that noise-cancelling headphones, meanwhile, don’t reliably offer the kind of sound reduction your ears need in a concert environment. Similarly, using a pair of wired or wireless earbuds (such as AirPods) you already own as noise-reducing earplugs isn’t effective at lowering decibels to a safe-enough level.

After considering more than a dozen universal-fit earplugs since 2019, our testers have consistently ranked Loop Experience Earplugs as the ones they’d most want to regularly wear—and other Wirecutter staffers agree, whether they’re seeing Taylor Swift in a stadium or just trying to calm their nerves during a thunderstorm.

“I find them to be perfect for nights out dancing. I feel like I can hear the music, the beats, and the melodies without having to deal with all the ringing the next day,” says associate projects editor Phillip Zminda. “The sound’s a bit muffled, and it’s hard to hear people trying to talk to me through them, but for me, it’s usually hard to hear people talking in those environments even without the earplugs.”

Lisa Fischer, senior audience development strategist for social video, also said that when she wears her Loop earplugs at concerts or clubs, “They let me enjoy the experience while feeling like I’m not missing anything.”

Speaking of not missing anything, Loop earplugs come with a carrying case (barely bigger than a quarter) that affixes to a keychain, so they’re supremely easy to take with you wherever you go and use as needed—which is especially important given that noise-induced hearing loss happens cumulatively, one overly loud environment at a time.

Numerous staffers said that having their Loop earplugs on them at all times has helped them get into the habit of protecting their hearing more frequently while also becoming more attuned to how noise reduction helps lessen their anxiety in certain situations. Lauren says that earplugs can also be used in some circumstances as a good treatment for misophonia.

As we note in our guide to the best earplugs for concerts, every package of Loop Experience Earplugs comes with four sizes of silicone tips that are meant to sit flush against the cavity of the external ear. Finding the right size is important: If the tips are too small for your ear cavity, they might fall out, but tips that are too large can cause soreness.

To find your best fit, Lauren recommends a simple test (video). “After you put them in your ears, put your hand near your head and rub two fingers together,” she says. “If you can hear your fingers rubbing against each other, you don’t have a good enough seal, and you need larger tips.”

This article was edited by Alexander Aciman and Adrienne Maxwell.