Lately, my ears have been shocked by a once-familiar sensation: bass. Blame aging, or simply being out of practice after so many months of lockdown, but the piercing ringing in my ears I experienced after a few hours of deliciously loud, amplified music was worse than any hangover. And it might not be just me: “I think there’s going to be a heightened sense of sensitivity to loud sounds post-pandemic, because everyone has been in quiet for the past year and a half, so now is a pivotal moment to be proactive about this,” says Julie Glick, Au.D., an audiologist who runs Musicians Hearing Solutions in Los Angeles.
Coming home with ringing ears after a night out is nothing new, of course. Dance floors at clubs and live music venues typically hover between 95 and 105 decibels, which the CDC says can create hearing loss in as few as five minutes. “Even one exposure can cause a temporary reduction in hearing,” says Glick. “If you're exposed over and over again, it’s too late by the time it gets to be severe. We lose our ability to hear high frequencies as a function of getting older, so it's double damage.”
Wearing earplugs is the best way to ensure you’ll hear all those crunchy mids and feathery trebles in the future. But a cheap pair of over-the-counter earplugs can feel like a sacrifice: Foam earplugs protect against dangerously high decibels by stuffing up the ear canal, creating air pockets that dampen sounds in the process.
That's why serious club-goers have gravitated toward custom silicone earplugs molded specifically to their anatomy. These can achieve extremely “flat” filters—as in, just as much treble as bass gets shut out. It's the sound as the artist intended, just a little quieter. And outfits like Crystal Guardian, which has brought glitter-filled custom silicone creations into the heart of New York’s nightlife community, are making wearing earplugs to the club, dare we say it, cool.
“Disposable foam earplugs do an excellent job of protecting you, at the expense of compromising the music—it takes out all the high end and leaves the low end,” says Crystal Guardian founder Elliot Cash. “These are the closest thing to turning down the overall volume of music in the space you’re in.”
Cash launched the company in 2019, after a stint fabricating custom earplugs for a company in Manhattan. While custom earplugs can run as high as $300, Cash charges $100 per pair. Word quickly spread in the club community—and then the pandemic shut down venues, and Crystal Guardian followed. The one-person operation reopened in May of this year, alongside clubs and a surge of new interest from professionals and amateurs alike.
“Tracks on big systems have been mastered and mixed to sound a specific way, and I want to hear them that same way or the way the DJ is presenting them,” says Adi Dahiya, a DJ and party promoter who was fitted for a pair of Crystal Guardian earplugs at Nowadays’ popular daytime party, Mister Sunday. “Because they fit into your ear so well, there aren’t any weird air pockets where the sound is muffled.”
Since the summer, Crystal Guardian has gone straight to the source, holding monthly pop-ups at progressive bars and clubs like Brooklyn Made, Mood Ring, Jupiter Disco, and Nowadays. Now, Cash is busier than ever. He's also made custom earplugs for staff at each of these venues, along with DJs like Nowadays cofounder Eamon Harkin and the Discwoman collective's cofounder Umfang. “People shouldn't have to be damaging their hearing while working, performing, or dancing at a show,” says Cash.
Like audiologists and custom earplug services, Cash’s process begins by putting a foam block (with a string for easy removal) into the ear canal before pouring in a silicone impression material. It sets in four minutes and feels like dunking your head underwater—a dreamlike, strangely calming version of sensory deprivation with a few gentle Rice Krispie-esque pops.
Cash brings the impressions back to his studio and uses a liquefied, agar-based gel to create molds. The molds are filled with medical-grade clear silicone and the prized glitter, which comes in an array of textures and hues—“sour apple,” “cherry popsicle,” and “onyx.” Finally, Cash drills a canal to transmit some sound, adds a smooth lacquer seal, and pops in acoustic attenuation filters from Dynamic Ear Company in the Netherlands, which evenly reduce volume by -10, -15, -20, or -25 decibels. Cash recommends -15 for clubgoers who spend hours in front of the speakers, and -10 for DJs who want to be both present and protected.
“Once I started touring full time, earplugs became essential. I initially liked soft silicone ones from a hearing aid company called Earaser,” says Umfang. “I knew custom earplugs were a thing for professional audio people, but it was way too expensive, so I think it’s really wonderful that [Crystal Guardian] is keeping the price down and doing community pop-up events. I don’t think most earplugs are marketed toward young people going out, but these make you excited to bring them because they’re a fun sparkly object.”
I’m personally a sucker for accessories, so I snapped my earplugs’ sleek carrying case onto my keys as soon as it arrived. When I took them out for a test drive at the club, I was suddenly aware of the array of ear protection around me. A couple with matching buzz cuts danced with earplug chains draped across their necks, behind a man in ultra reflective orange pants that look ripped straight off a construction site—complete with blocky safety orange earplugs to match.
At first it felt like I was dancing in a fog, so I used just one in my ear closest to the monitor to cushion the auditory blow. It was 95 decibels on the dance floor—as loud as a motorcycle and potentially damaging after 50 minutes of exposure. A few minutes later, percussive drum & bass started pouring through the speakers and I popped the other earplug in. It felt totally seamless, especially given the bass was so intense that the wooden dance floor was aggressively shaking beneath my feet. The real difference came much later: When I fell into bed and heard nothing at all.
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