“It won’t hurt a bit,” Michael reassures me, squeezing what looks like a glue gun into my ear. Getting a pair of custom made earplugs has been on my ‘to do’ list for so long that whatever he’s says, I’m hardly going to back out now.

Asking myself again why I am here, I remember that at recent gigs, my Music Safe earplugs have started to chafe after a couple of hours. As a Don’t Lose the Music campaigner, I thought that a summer of festivals and practising what I preach about safe listening warranted a more comfortable pair of plugs.

Performance is also important. I want to reduce the volume – so that I don’t get the buzzing the day after – but keep the quality of sound, which you lose with non-filtered or disposable foam earplugs. And selling at around £100, custom made earplugs aren’t just the preserve of the music industry. Michael says that Sensorcom – based in an office in Kent, but with links to outlets all over the country – does a few dozen fittings each week for everyone from bedroom DJs to the Metropolitan police.

Two weeks before, I was sitting in exactly the same place in Michael’s office, only to discover that I’m one of the 20 per cent of people who go for a fitting, only to find that their ears needed syringing first because of a build up of earwax . So after a week treating them to gently warmed olive oil, then shocking them with a quick blast of water at the hands of my nurse, my ears are clean and ready to go.

First, Michael gently eases in two pea-sized cylinders of foam. Then, Michael produces the ‘glue gun’. “Yup, that’s basically what it is,” he says when I ask – adding hastily when he sees my alarmed face, “Except it doesn’t have glue in it, obviously.” He squeezes out a sticky blob on to the table and before I can probe it, he’s squeezing what feels like cold custard into each ear.

As the wax solidifies, it swells to fill all of the ear canal – a process known as ‘curing’ – and I can hear a gentle popping. I’m struggling to hear Michael as my ears are completely sealed, and our photographer giggles as she mimes to me that I’m shouting my questions.

Then the wax is set, the moulds twist out, and I see what my ear looks like on the inside – a lunar landscape, attached to the foam inserts soaked in enough olive oil to fill a few deep fat fryers.

With the gross bit out of the way, I get to choose my colour and then eagerly await my plugs’ arrival in the post. Transparent plugs are too subtle for me – so I go for the glitteriest inserts available. Having waited this long, I deserve them!

Read more about ProGuard Custom Music Earplugs on Sensorcom’s site.

Want to win one of six pairs of custom made earplugs? Answer our questionnaire and pledge to protect your hearing for a chance to win Sensorcom ProGuard Custom Music Earplugs worth over £100.