Summer Concert Season and Hearing Protection in Austin

Stubb's is booked solid through August. ACL Fest planning is already underway. If you've got shows lined up this summer, your ears are probably the last thing on your mind, which is exactly the problem.

A typical outdoor concert runs between 100 and 115 decibels. At that level, hearing damage can begin after just a few minutes. A lawnmower runs around 90 decibels, so you start to get a sense of the gap. The tricky part is that loud music doesn't feel dangerous. It feels great. That's the whole reason you're there.

What Loud Music Does to Your Ears

Sound is processed by thousands of tiny hair cells deep inside your inner ear. When those cells are overwhelmed by loud noise, they get damaged; unlike skin or bone, they don't heal. Once they're gone, they're gone.

That muffled, underwater feeling after a show? There's an actual name for it: temporary threshold shift. It means your hearing took a hit and is trying to recover. Do that repeatedly across a full summer of shows, and "temporary" can quietly become permanent.

Ringing or buzzing in your ears after a concert, called tinnitus, is often the first warning sign. If you've driven home from Stubb's with your ears ringing, your body was sending you a message worth taking seriously.

Why Foam Earplugs Don't Cut It

Most people's backup plan is a pair of foam earplugs from the gas station. It's better than nothing, but not by much. Foam blocks high frequencies, like vocals and cymbals, much more aggressively than low ones. The result is music that sounds muffled and flat. Bass thumps through while everything else gets smothered.

That's why most people pull them out halfway through the opening act.

Musician earplugs work differently. Instead of blocking sound unevenly, they reduce the overall volume while keeping the full frequency range intact. You still hear the mix the way it was intended, just at a level that isn't doing damage. You don't have to choose between protecting your ears and actually enjoying the show.

Custom Fit vs. Ready-to-Wear

There are two main options worth knowing about.

Ready-fit musician earplugs are available without a fitting appointment. They're affordable, effective, and a significant upgrade from foam. Most reduce volume by around 20 decibels without distorting the sound. If you're heading to one or two shows this summer, these are a solid starting point.

Custom musician earplugs are made from an impression of your actual ear canal. The fit is precise, the noise reduction is consistent, and they're comfortable enough to wear through a three-hour set without adjusting them every 20 minutes. If you're going to multiple shows, whether that's a weekend at ACL or a regular rotation of smaller venues, custom earplugs are worth the investment. They're also easy to pack and built to last for years.

Neither option is just for musicians. Sound engineers, festival staff, and anyone who spends a lot of time around amplified music faces the same cumulative risk. More shows means more exposure, and that adds up faster than most people expect.

Hearing Health Beyond the Concert

Here's something most people don't know: the part of your brain that processes music overlaps heavily with the system you use to follow conversations and understand speech. Protecting your hearing at concerts matters not just for enjoying shows, but for staying sharp in everyday life.

At Victory Hearing & Balance, we offer a Music Training Program developed by Dr. Jill Davis that uses music-based exercises to support auditory brain function and speech understanding. It's a different approach from traditional hearing therapy, one that works with the brain's natural response to music rather than relying solely on speech-based training.

Get Fitted Before the Season Gets Going

Dr. Jill Davis is a Gold Circle Audiologist through Sensaphonics, a designation specific to hearing care for musicians and frequent concertgoers. At Victory Hearing & Balance, we fit custom musician earplugs and in-ear monitors from Sensaphonics, Starkey, and Westone, which are brands built for serious listening environments.

Getting fitted now means you're covered before the season really heats up. An ear impression takes just a few minutes, and the finished earplugs typically arrive within a couple of weeks.

If you've got a summer full of shows ahead, don't wait until the ringing starts. Call us at 512-443-3500 to schedule a fitting, or ask about our Music Training Program when you come in. Your future self, the one who still loves live music at 60, will thank you.