Tinnitus UK has said that 92 per cent of people experience tinnitus after live music events, and has called for earplugs to be as routine as seatbelts. Whether you’ve got a festival booked for the summer, a concert coming up, or you're a regular gig-goer, the right pair of earplugs will reduce the sound in your environment to a safe level, without dampening the quality, and are a must for live music. That ringing you might hear in your ears after a concert happens when the sound has “agitated the nerve”, says audiologist at The Wellbeing by Cubex, Adam Schulberg. This “could lead to constant or longer exposure to permanent tinnitus” that “can prevent sleep, and will often go hand in hand with hearing loss”. We can think of noise like a dose, says Schulberg. The louder the noise, the less our ears can tolerate. And everyday noises add up. “It doesn’t need to be one loud event, it can be just travelling on the tube every day, just walking through the streets of London”. He explains, “constant exposure to loud noise at fairly modest levels can create long-term problems and accelerate hearing loss”. Unlike foam earplugs, filtered earplugs “attenuate (reduce) the music at different levels, but retain its integrity”, Schulberg says. It's just like “listening to a piece of music at a lower volume but still enjoying it”. Earplugs offer different attention levels. For louder events, like rock or metal concerts, Schulberg recommends maximum protection, such as 26dB. While at his clinic he mostly makes bespoke earplugs, he also offers Happy Ears, an over-the-counter option that, in testing, worked exceptionally well. When it comes to “extremely loud” music, he says they ensure “you're fairly safe throughout the concert” and will retain the integrity of the music, although they will be “quite deadening” for just “moderate” noise. When music isn’t especially loud, or for open-air concerts when you’re “some distance from the stage and the speakers”, or for occasional concerts, he recommends 15dB. But earplugs will only work if we don’t get a few things right. While bespoke earplugs will provide the attenuation they claim to, others depend on “whether you put them in correctly and whether you’ve got the right size”, Schulberg warns. “Make sure they’re a snug fit in the ear”. Earplugs have multiple cones (flanges) which can help with this, but the outer cone needs to be very snugly in the ear, he stresses. Read more: Best noise-cancelling headphones, tried and testedI tested the earplugs at real live events (The Independent)Best overall – Loop experience 2 plus: £39.95, Amazon.co.ukBest budget option – Wellthy by Boots party earplugs: Was £15, now £12, Boots.comBest for high protection – Happy Ears: £28.50, Happyearsearplugs.comBest for customisable protection – Sennheiser soundprotex plus: £63.99, Amazon.co.ukRead more: 8 best camping mats, reviewed