Could changing attitudes to hearing protection help reduce future noise-induced hearing loss?
Once associated with noisy factories, construction sites and other industrial workplaces, hearing protection is increasingly being sold as a lifestyle accessory.
A recent Vogue Business article asked whether earplugs could become the next ‘jewellery’ fad. It looked at the growing market for design-led hearing protection, particularly among younger people going to concerts, festivals and clubs. Brands such as Loop, Alpine and Hears are no longer presenting earplugs simply as protective equipment. Colour, shape and style have become part of the appeal, with some products designed to sit alongside clothing and other accessories.
Noise-induced hearing loss claims have been pursued for decades and remain an active area of the claims market. Much of the resulting hearing damage is preventable, yet occupational noise remains a persistent problem.
The traditional approach to PPE has often been fairly simple: provide it, explain why it is needed, and expect workers to wear it.
However, in 2025, HSE inspections found significant shortcomings in workplace hearing protection. According to a September 2025 HSE Media Centre release, “Serious gaps found in protecting workers from excessive noise”, three-quarters of the noisy workplaces inspected lacked essential knowledge among workers about maintaining hearing protection equipment. Nearly two-thirds had not provided guidance on the importance of wearing protection continuously while exposed to harmful noise.
The answer may not simply be to tell workers to wear their earplugs. That brings us back to the changing image of the earplug. If protective equipment is comfortable, looks good and fits more easily into what someone is doing, then maybe people may be more willing to use it consistently.
The Vogue Business article describes how Loop deliberately moved away from the traditional appearance of hearing protection. Its products are available in different colours and styles and are designed to look more like an accessory than a piece of industrial PPE.
Attractive design shouldn’t distract from the fundamental requirements of attenuation, fit, compatibility and effective noise control, but if good design can make people more willing to protect their hearing, then that is something worth considering
After all, the best hearing conservation programme is not one in which workers are persuaded to tolerate their PPE, it is one in which the workplace is made quieter, the protection is appropriate, and workers choose to use it because it works for them.
It is clear though, that hearing protection is no longer something confined to the industrial world and younger generations are taking more interest in hearing conservation, which may see an impact in the future claims market.
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