This sounds trivial but it's such good advice. When you're young you don't want to be seen wearing hearing protection. I was a pop music critic when I was younger, and only wore ear protection a little more than half the time I was at a loud concert, which was often. Now I have tinnitus in my 50s. Don't be afraid to look uncool. The orange, tapered ear plugs are the best. Get them on Amazon. They're often not sold in drug stores.
Susan Shore and her team at the University of Michigan are working on a similar device. They have an animal model that they are able to test under. They have reportedly had success in humans as well:
