When’s the last time you wore earplugs in public?

“Our ears are complicated, delicate instruments that largely evolved in far quieter times than the age we currently inhabit — an early world without rock concerts, loud restaurants, power tools and earbuds.

Writer David Owen describes our current age as a "deafening" one, and in his new book, Volume Control, he explains how the loud noises we live with are harming our ears.

"When we talk about age-related hearing loss, the assumption is that this is something that happens to old people," Owen says. "It is something that happens to old people — but it's something that's caused by things that we do when we're young." - NPR

We don’t look directly at the sun, but we’ll sit in a loud restaurant where we can’t hear anyone speaking. What gives?

To avoid the worst of hearing loss, David Owen, author of Volume Control, recommends we don’t be bashful about using earplugs in public. It’s hard for city dwellers and people with jobs that require heavy machinery to avoid ear-harming noise. Wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t need earplugs to go to the movies, though?