It's a conversation that I've had with someone recently. He's recently bought himself some musician ear plugs to protect his hearing at gigs, and he prompted me to think what steps I go to protect my hearing.

I sometimes use a booth monitor that I only have turned on when I'm mixing. The rest of the night, the volume is off. I also refrain from turning up the sound as the night goes on (I'm a believer that our ears become 'jaded' to loud volumes, so what seems a bit quiter to us may not be to the clients and their guests). Finally, I do sometimes leave my headphones on with the volume off to give my ears a break (and, as a bonus, it looks like I'm busy!).

Will I go as far as ear plugs? I think I may. It is going to be one of the times where you have to be proactive and not reactive, otherwise by the time you realise something is wrong, it may be too late.

So what steps do you take to protect your ears?