You can wear earplugs and live your life. Actually, wearing earplugs make it more likely you can live your life rather than finding out tinnitus has no limit, where it can debilitate you. But even with earplugs, avoid loud noise as well.
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You don't have to wear them everywhere, just places that are unpredictable. I would personally wear them on the bus, but you could always just keep them handy or wear muffs around your neck and throw them on when the volumes rises.
I don't want to wear ear plugs everywhere as well. It also hurts if I wear it too long lol. Fuck either way.