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Anyone who regularly witnesses live music and doesn't wear earplugs is an idiot.

This is non-negotiable. No ifs, no buts. If you watch bands playing their music through amplifiers on a regular basis and you don't wear earplugs, you're silly.

It's the aural equivalent of staring into the sun. Sooner or later it's going to hurt, and it's going to make your life worse.

Human nature being what it is, I completely understand why people are hesitant to take proactive measures to protect their hearing. The conversation tends to go something like: “If there's no problem besides the occasional ringing ear after a concert, what's the problem? Ringing ears are part of the live music experience, right?”

Right, to an extent. But it doesn't have to be that way.

Picture it like this. You started life with 100% hearing. By exposing yourself to prolonged periods of loud noise - like, say, The Drones owning The Corner Hotel for 90 minutes on a Saturday night - you're consistently chipping away at fractions of that 100%. Human hearing has no natural regenerative properties. Hearing aids may work in some circumstances, but that's a reactive measure; something you might look into once you've made the mistake of standing next to the speaker stacks once too often.

Like mental illness, hearing loss is easy to overlook because it's something experienced by the individual, and rarely observed by outsiders. Tangible evidence is rare. If you start losing your hearing, your friends might even notice sooner than you do. They'll see you straining to hear them talk in noisy environments – like, say, a music venue – and they might mock you for being hard of hearing.

They have every right to – as long as they're wearing earplugs. Because hearing loss is preventable, even among the most avid live music fans, as long as certain precautions are taken.

Like wearing earplugs.

I generally encountered two main concerns when I raise this topic.

One: “I'll look like an idiot while I'm putting them in and taking them out”.

And two: “They'll ruin the gig's sound quality”.

The first one is easy enough to address: if you're a grown, gig-going adult and you’re still worried about what people will think of you for the few seconds it takes to push some plugs into your ears, you better take a long, hard look at yourself. You might be the same person who forgoes the application of sunscreen while socialising with friends outside, and then spends the next week peeling skin from your shoulders. In either case, what's worse: a few moments of self-consciousness while taking preventative health measures, or the rest of your life regretting your choice of vanity over commonsense?

The second one is best dispelled by noting that most musicians wear earplugs. So do most professional sound technicians.They wear really, really good ones. Good earplugs even enhance the experience because they cut out high-end sounds, most commonly manifested in rock music as feedback and cymbal wash. If the guy behind the sound desk puts in his plugs after checking the levels during the first few songs, what other excuse do you have?

You needn't spend much on earplugs to achieve the desired effect, either, so don't you dare whinge about the prohibitive cost. A pair of standard-issue Hearos-brand plugs cost around $35 from music stores; they're probably cheaper online. Brisbane gig-goers will know that $35 at The Tivoli buys you approximately three full-strength beers. (I'm only slightly exaggerating, unfortunately.)

So if you can afford to pay the door charge and buy your mates a round of drinks, you can afford to splash out on a pair of Hearos. This isn't a paid advertisement, in case you were wondering.Hearosare one of many products on the market. They work for me, though, which is why I'm recommending them.

As an avid music fan and live music critic, I can't imagine anything worse than losing the ability to hear the work produced by my favourite artists. In the last four years I've reviewed over 200 live concerts, and I've worn earplugs to all but the quietest of acoustic shows. The plugs' presence has improved my experience without fail, because I know that I won't go to sleep with ringing ears. I know I'm also reducing the potential effects of tinnitus, and other in-earnasties, in later life.

What a fool you'd be to spoil the rest of your long, music-filled life by stoically refusing to place a couple of plugs into your ears. I'm all for selective silence, but I think you'll agree that a life of music is much more appealing. Care for your ears.

Andrew McMillen (@NiteShok) is a Brisbane-based freelance journalist. http://andrewmcmillen.com/