hears earplugs can prevent hearing loss in concerts and raves

Hears earplugs protect ears from hearing loss at concerts

During his conversation with designboom, Bob Verlaat, the ½ of Hears Earplugs, says we might not be aware of why we should wear earplugs. He tells us that people know they need to wear sunglasses when the sun is out because directly staring at it or being exposed to it can harm their eyesight. ‘But we’re completely ignoring that we’re hurting our ears,’ he shares with designboom in the interview. He’s talking about when people attend large-scale and grand concerts, raves, and parties. The music blasts from the speakers, and they’re often loud.

The ears may get used to the volume, but staying the night with that sound level may damage hearing and cause temporary tinnitus. Here’s where Bob Verlaat and his team step in. They picture people wearing earplugs at music events and still clearly hearing the acoustics and songs, feeling the bass vibrations, and talking with other people. They imagine stylish and lightweight ones, the kind that double as accessories. Their vision is no longer on the board. It’s now the Hears Earplugs, planted with acoustic and sound filters that still allow users to listen to clear music.

all images courtesy of Hears Earplugs

Bob Verlaat on the heart-shaped design of the earplugs

Bob Verlaat dissected the design of Hears Earplugs during our interview, and he started with the look of the hearing protection. When they’re united, the earplugs form the shape of a heart. Break them apart, and users can see half hearts, each of them placed into their ear. The co-founder says it symbolizes healthy hearing. It’s also a fun design he and the design team pored over before they decided they wanted the heart shape to be the brand’s iconography, too.

Halfway through our interview, Bob Verlaat stood up from his seat, grabbed a piece of the product, showed it to the camera, and bent the tails of the half-heart. They’re flexible, and it’s intentional because no one wants a pair of uncomfortable earplugs while at concerts and raves. The style came next. Some earplugs might not look appealing, and Hears gets it (just think of the ones handed out during flights). They want theirs to complement the wearer’s aesthetics. In search of doing so, they’ve produced two versions: one with a smooth finish, and another with an etched rippling design at the rear of the earplugs, replicating sound waves.

each earplug forms half a heart

Hears earplugs for concerts and raves

These soundwave carvings called ‘Coin’ can make Hears Earplugs part of the user’s fashion statement, a pair of accessories embedded into their ears while they party at concerts and raves. While these ripples may serve aesthetic purposes, the acoustic and sound filters are the technologies that bring the earplugs to life. Bob Verlaat’s technology team tells designboom that Hears Earplugs use a membrane that acts as a second set of eardrums for the users.

It reduces sound vibrations while maintaining the quality of the voice and tracks. There’s a microperforation in the filter too, which equalizes the sound pressure so that the original caliber of music remains the same. The Hears Earplugs team has thought of those who might lose a piece while they’re at concerts and parties. It’s probably because the fit is loose, or they might not have the right size. So, they’re offering four different tip sizes. In this way, users can find the fit they feel most comfortable with.

Hears Earplugs offer a selection of six color variations

Skin-friendly materials make up the ergonomic design of the Hears Earplugs, so they push into and pull out from the ears easily. On top of all these, Bob Verlaat says that a portion of the proceeds is donated to the Hearing Health Foundation (HHF) to support research on hearing loss prevention and treatment. For designboom, Bob Verlaat unpacks the story behind Hears Earplugs, as seen in our conversation below.

Our interview reveals why he co-founded the company, the design elements that didn’t make it to the final product, how it felt for him and the team to collaborate with musicians and DJs in the creation of the earplugs, and features that may soon appear in the upcoming Hears Earplugs.

Bob Verlaat says that Hears Earplugs incorporate a ‘Coin’ design element

Interview with Bob Verlaat of HEARS Earplugs

designboom (DB): Hi Bob, it’s great to have you here with us to talk about Hears Earplugs. We’re quite curious if you have had any personal experience with hearing loss or discomfort, and maybe that’s one of the reasons why you started making Hears Earplugs?

Bob Verlaat (BV): Well, the experience doesn’t come from having hearing problems ourselves. It comes from wanting quality hearing protection and knowing the risks of not having it. We have many people in our direct network who suffer from hearing loss, but the brand actually came from the lack of protection we wanted to wear and not aesthetically pleasing or of quality.

The earplugs we tried, and we tried many, weren’t satisfactory. We knew how important it was to wear protection, but there weren’t any earplugs we liked that didn’t muffle the sound or music at concerts, raves, and other events. So, we needed to create something that kept the music quality, didn’t compromise on sound quality, and still looked good. That’s where the origin lies, not from having hearing problems ourselves or suffering from hearing loss.

DB: How about the heart-shaped design because that was such a unique feature? Why did you pick that shape from all the other forms you could have chosen?

BV: For some reason, from the start, we wanted to do something with the heart shape because it resembles community, especially in the dance music scene. Whether you talk about hardcore, techno, or pop, there’s always this symbol that unites any type of free spirit or freedom within those festivals, which is the heart shape. So that’s what we incorporated in the design as well as the brand itself.

the ‘Coin’ design of Hears Earplugs for concerts and raves mirrors soundwaves

DB: Is there a technical reason behind this shape? Something that can help Hears Earplugs?

BV: No, not a technical reason for the heart shape. Although it’s a half-heart shape, if you unite the two earplugs, they form a heart. We did the design first because we wanted comfort to come first, and then we shaped it in a way that together forms our logo. It happened to be the perfect edge to wear comfortably and also keep it in place because that’s the most important thing. It’s also a problem we encountered with other earplugs: they didn’t fit well or fell out, and that’s the problem we solved. So design-wise, it all came together from an aesthetic view, a functional point of view, as well as the brand view, which resembles the heart again.

DB: Were there any other design considerations that you thought of at the beginning but didn’t make it to the final Hears Earplugs?

BV: There were many. This has been a process of the filter itself. It’s been a process of five years, and this design itself took two years to actually have the ergonomics and shapes that it should have, but we tried many different designs. We’ve prototyped maybe over 10 completely different designs to make earplugs that all contributed to the problem we were solving, but none of them were as good as our current design.

We over-prototyped and kept evolving as well, because what you see right now on the website and what you saw at Sonar is not at all what it looked like on the first try. The current earplug design has been developed for the last two and a half years. The focus of the five-year attention span was the development of the filter itself. It was the process of creating a filter, and our partners were more involved in that part. It’s been a long process and a complicated product to make, but we’re very happy.

four different tip sizes of Hears Earplugs for concerts and raves to ensure a secure fit for all ears

DB: It’s great to know that you’re happy with the results.

BV: Yes, especially seeing the responses from people and finally bringing it to market and hearing the customer reviews, how people love the earplugs when they’ve worn them at parties and raves, and that they’re better than any other they tried. That’s what you do it for in the end.

DB: Have you had any striking or memorable stories from someone who has tried the Hears Earplugs?

BV: We’re a two-month-old company, so I doubt we have many stories yet, but it’s very good to hear people trying other similar products and telling us how much better ours is. We see people swapping their old earplugs for ours. The responses we’re getting are great, even for a company this small and young. Definitely.

DB: Can we talk about the sound filters and experience? How do they work?

BV: We use a flat memory filter that’s been repeatedly tested to create the attenuation levels to keep music as it should, to keep the most natural sound effect technically possible. We chose an attenuation level on the damping of the sound of 20 decibels, which is enough for the earplugs to protect you from hearing loss as well as keep the voices that you hear, the conversations that you have at concerts, raves, or festivals, as clear and natural as possible. That’s the non-technical explanation for what the filter does. We do this well in terms of the quality of the sound you get from those filters, compared to any other type of earplugs, and these are some of our bigger selling points.

DB What was the biggest challenge in making sure that the sound would still be crisp and clear?

BV: There are a million small adaptations you can make to change the earplugs’ damping and change the way you perceive music or the voices. But what we did was take many of them and partner with artists and world-renowned DJs to understand what was important to them in terms of the specific sound details during their sets at concerts, raves, parties, and other events. So, we also adapted Hears Earplugs based on that.

We also took into account that even the smallest details need to be hearable and noticeable to them. Maybe you and I would not notice these sound details, but the DJs and musicians have been a crucial part of the development of the earplugs to make sure those details are heard as well. So, they’ve been part of the process since the very beginning. We’ve taken their desires and wishes into account to build the Hears Earplugs as well.

DB: Can you talk about this ‘add-on track’ feature that may be in Hears Earplugs?

BV: Very early in our launch, we introduced the add-on track as well. Essentially, we chose to discontinue it because we weren’t satisfied with the quality that came out of the actual attenuation levels that we reached. There might be another point in time where we reintroduce this, but for now, it didn’t reach the innovation levels or the quality that we wanted the earplug to have. We’ll obviously find a way to make it happen because it’s been our mission to create a very high-quality earplug.

there’s an included case for every purchase of Hears Earplugs for concerts, raves and other music events

DB: Some of the Hears earplugs have these ripple designs on the back. What’s the story behind them?

BV: To be honest, it’s an aesthetic thing to have two different versions of our earplugs. For the coin or ripple design, we took some inspiration from the old music stereos, which were at the height of the DJ scene in the past. We wanted to incorporate that as part of the design, and then we figured that some people might like it, some people might not. That’s why we first started with just five different versions.

Within those five different versions, there are two different colors for the ones with coin designs at the back. We chose materials that are skin-friendly, and actually, the heart-shaped wires behind the earplugs are bendable. The base of the earplugs and the coin are made from ABS, while the track is made from skin friendly TPE material. So it’s comfortable and secure while still being sturdy and not falling out.

the sound filter reduces harmful noise levels while preserving the quality of music

DB: We know that you might pick up the add-on track again. Are there other features that you may want to add to Hears Earplugs?

BV: We want to expand into more markets right now. We’ve built earplugs that’s perfectly suited for the music industry, both in terms of filter and design, be it at parties, concerts, raves, and the like. Obviously, we want to introduce more colors and a broader range, possibly brighter ones. Maybe that’s all coming.

But on the design itself, I think it will stay like this for a long time, the heart shape, because it’s something recognizable for us. It’s something people recognize us by. We’ll probably add different designs, with different colorways and finishes, maybe more glossy or more neon. Time will tell.