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An updated study was conducted by Dr. Wilko Grolman and his colleagues at the University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands, titled: Effectiveness of Earplugs in Preventing Recreational Noise-Induced Hearing Loss, indicated that ear protection such as ear plugs can be capable of warding off acoustic trauma, according to Medical Daily.

The randomized clinical trial involved the acquisition of more than 50 test subjects within the average age of 27 in the demographic. All participants did not have a past history of hearing loss and were subjected to attend a music festival which was held in an open setting in Amsterdam. The trial period had a time span of four and a half hours wherein half of the subjects were casually given ear plugs while the remaining fraction was asked to attend the festival unshielded from the entertainment noise barrage.

The main outcome of the temporary threshold shift (TTS) after the festival of which the scientific team gauged had a sound pressure level of 100 A-weighted decibels (dBA) for every participant; was that 8 percent of those wearing an ear plug recorded a TTS unlike 42 percent of those non-ear plug wearers. It had also surfaced that the presence of tinnitus for those wearing an ear protection was minimal compared to those vulnerable to the loud music.   

It was also brought to light by the study that the limited confirmation about hearing loss due to loud music made a great influence on their research as well as the availability of an ear plug.  

"The general willingness to use earplugs in music venues by attendees is low," Grollman and his co-researchers pointed it out in the study.

In related news, Pete Townshend of the mid-60s English rock band The Who has been an ongoing advocate for hearing loss and tinnitus and has made it public on his support for the public awareness of such condition, as reported by NBC News in 2014.

Kathy Peck who spearheaded the hearing deficiency group almost three decades ago named HEAR (Hearing Education and Awareness for Rockers) mentioned to NBC that:

"I'm an old punk rocker. I've dedicated my life to it. When I started, no one believed it even existed, " she elucidated as certain members from the rock n' roll industry like Ozzy Osbourne and Neil Young had their own hiatus due to such medical issues.