I am very careful with my hearing abilitys. If i go to a concert I almost every time use ear plugs. Here is a working example of how to join hearing protection with in-ear recording. I bought a couple of cheap ear plugs at the local pharmacist and I built in a couple of Panasonic WM-61A mic elements in the ear plugs. I used the source follow mod, because of its ability to handle larger sound pressure. They work really nice and I can go to the loudest concert, with my hearing capabilities intact. Thanks to Greenmachine for his many ideas.