Shop 7/104 Northbourne Ave
Braddon ACT 2612
Braddon ACT 2612
Weekdays 9 to 5, Saturday 10 to 2.
Noise protection
Noise damage does not hurt, and it does not come back.
Candid Hearing takes an ear impression and has plugs moulded to your canal, with the right filter for what you actually do: a worksite, a band, a bedroom or a pool. Off-the-shelf plugs fail because they are uncomfortable and they muffle everything, so people stop wearing them.
15 min
To take the ear impressions
~2 weeks
For the finished plugs to come back
3-5 yrs
Typical lifespan with reasonable care
Permanent
Noise-induced hearing loss does not recover
Most hearing loss creeps up slowly and there is not much to be done about the cause. Noise-induced loss is the exception. It is almost entirely preventable, and it is completely irreversible.
Loud sound physically damages the hair cells in the cochlea. They do not grow back. You get one set, and by the time you notice the loss it has been accumulating for years, usually starting at 4000 Hz, which is exactly where the consonants live.
The insidious part is that it does not hurt. A day on a worksite or a night in front of a PA leaves your ears ringing and muffled, that settles by morning, and it feels like nothing happened. Some of it did not fully recover.
If you come out of a room and your ears are ringing, or your hearing is dull for a few hours, the level was too high for the time you spent in it.
Trades, construction, workshops, aviation ground crew, emergency services, mining. Employers have duties under work health and safety law to control noise exposure and provide suitable protection, and many will fund custom plugs, particularly once it becomes obvious that the disposable ones are not being worn.
Musicians, sound engineers, bar and venue staff, DJs. Filtered plugs reduce the level fairly evenly across frequencies rather than smothering the top end, so you can still hear what you are playing. Filters usually come in a few strengths and Pooja will talk through which suits your instrument or your position on stage.
Shift workers, light sleepers, and people whose partner snores. A solid custom plug sits flush and does not fall out or ache the way a foam one does against a pillow.
Swimmers, surfers, and anyone with grommets, a perforated eardrum or a history of outer ear infections. These are made to float.
If you are coming in because of noise exposure, it is worth having a full hearing assessment while you are here. Two reasons. It tells you what the exposure has already cost you. And it gives you a documented baseline, which matters a great deal if you ever need to make a WorkCover claim. Candid Hearing is a registered WorkCover provider.
Common questions
For occasional use they are fine, and they are better than nothing. The problems are fit and sound quality. Foam plugs block the high frequencies far more than the low ones, so music turns to mud and speech turns to mumble, which is exactly why people take them out halfway through a shift. Custom plugs are moulded to your ear and can be fitted with filters that cut the level evenly.
Pooja takes an impression of your ear canal, which takes about fifteen minutes and feels like a soft putty setting in your ear. That goes to the laboratory and the finished plugs come back in a couple of weeks for a fitting check.
Usually three to five years with reasonable care. Ear canals change shape slowly over time, so they are not for life, and children outgrow them much faster.
With filtered musician-style plugs, yes. They reduce everything by roughly the same amount across the frequency range, so conversation still sounds natural, just quieter. Solid plugs for sleeping or swimming are designed to block, not to filter.
Often, yes. Under work health and safety duties an employer has to provide suitable hearing protection where noise exposure is above the limits. Many organisations will fund custom plugs, particularly where standard ones are not being worn. Ask, and ask before you buy.
Yes. They are a common request for people with grommets, a perforated eardrum, or repeated swimmer’s ear. They float, which matters more than you would think.
Also at Candid Hearing
Noise-induced loss is one of the few kinds that is almost entirely preventable, and entirely permanent once it happens.
