Interview with 1of1 Custom’s Jaye Hamel for World Hearing Day
For electronic music fans, ear protection is one of today’s most vital – and frightening – subjects. Very few people understand this better than 1of1 Custom’s Jaye Hamel, one of our moderators at the upcoming 35th Anniversary of Winter Music Conference in Miami.
As General Manager of 1of1 Custom, Jaye Hamel is passionate about protecting hearing health and promoting sustainable self-care practices for artists and industry professionals.
At WMC 2025, she will moderate “Health on the Road: Touring & Self-Care,” where artists and experts will share real-world strategies for staying energized, managing stress, and maintaining mental and physical wellness while navigating the demands of touring and live performances.
This focus on health and well-being aligns seamlessly with Hamel’s work at 1of1 Custom, a renowned custom-fitting earwear company whose high-quality ear protection products are worn by some of the biggest DJs in the world, including Alesso, Michael Bibi, Black Coffee, Tiësto, Claude VonStroke, and more. With many concert-goers still ignorant (or dismissive) of the risks of frequent exposure to loud music, 1of1 is on a mission to provide accessible and affordable custom-molded earplugs that don’t detract – and in fact enhance – the music listening experience.
In honor of World Hearing Day, we asked Jaye Hamel a few questions about 1of1 Custom, the importance of protecting your ears, and what we can expect from her activation with MusiCares at WMC 2025.
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Tell us about your background prior to 1of1 Custom.
Jaye Hamel: My background prior to 1of1 was working in music and nightlife. I had a short stint at a talent agency, and helped to open several nightclubs in various roles. Back in 2012 I was working for what is now Hakkasan Group as a marketing coordinator in a small casino music venue. While at that job, we had the opportunity to get fit for custom earplugs, and that was how I began wearing customs. A year or so after that I had lost my earplugs, and during a call to replace them, a conversation began between me and the manager of 1of1 Custom (known as ACS Custom USA at the time). They were relatively new to the US and needed sales reps, so I was one of the first people they hired to help spread the word about custom hearing protection.
I personally had always worn earplugs, while surrounded by an entire friend network made of people working in music and nightlife. It was a bit of luck, but I talked to the right people, and within two months of me starting this new part time job, I found myself doing earplug fittings at some of NYC’s biggest venues like Output, Cielo, Verboten and many others.
Even though I was working in this field part time, I had a serious love for it. I could see the impact it had on people, and certainly the benefit it had on my own experience. So in 2017, I went back to school to further my education with a degree in hearing instrument science to learn more about hearing health, hearing loss, and ways to manage it. Coming out of school in 2019, a management position had opened up with what had become 1of1 Custom, and I applied. Here we are, nearly 6 years later, and I couldn’t be more proud of the growth we’ve achieved both as a company and in the field as a whole.
15 years ago, it wasn’t “normalized” to wear earplugs to see music, nor were there nearly the same amount of earplug options. Since then, many solid universal earplug brands have emerged, helping normalize the act of wearing hearing protection. From there, consumers began to seek out products that offered a more comfortable fit, or better sound quality, and we’re very proud to offer a product that checks both those boxes.
Tell us about 1of1 and the benefits of custom molded ear plugs.
JH: At 1of1, our mission is to deliver earwear that fits perfectly, provides exceptional sound quality, and ensures superior hearing protection that will not just safeguard your hearing health but also enhance your auditory experience.
We make all of our products out of a lab located in Burlingame, California. We have satellite offices in Manhattan and Los Angeles, as well as agents in 7 other cities.
Once you wear a custom molded earplug, you often never go back to wearing anything else. When it comes to earplugs options, you have universal fit and custom fit. I think of universal fitting earplugs like flip flops for your ears. They come in general sizes of small, medium, and large, they’re low cost, but they don’t really fit your ears – you often have to adjust them and the sound clarity is usually fair. Moving into custom fit options, think of that like buying a Nike Air Jordan for your ear. A molded plug will fit perfectly to your ear, you won’t have to adjust it throughout the night, and the filter options you find in custom housing all sound clear, with various levels of sound reduction offered through interchangeable filters. It sounds ironic, but music actually sounds better when you wear a custom earplug.
What do you think are the main reasons why a concert goer would choose not to wear earplugs?
JH: Misconception: fear that wearing earplugs will take away from the experience, or that they won’t be able to hear or “feel” the music.
Also, not believing that the risks are real, thinking that you won’t do permanent damage (or the opposite, thinking you’ve already done the damage so why start wearing plugs now).
On that note, what strategies have you implemented to not only educate the public about the benefits of ear protection, but also convince them to buy a pair of plugs? With 1of1, there’s the added hurdle of customers having to go get the custom molds before actually receiving their product – how have you circumvented that challenge?
JH: It’s been a long road to get to where we are. I have been working in this field since 2013, when custom earplugs seemed like something only very few professionals were wearing and no one really knew how to go about getting them. Back then, the process of being fit (having your ears molded) was only accessible through an audiologist or ENT. When you step back and look, most people going to clubs and festivals are in their 20’s and 30’s, many are going out a few nights a week, and it’s at these events and during this period of life that the damage is being done. Likewise, that same age group and demographic would not likely invest the time and effort to go get custom earplugs, so there was a void in the market.
Quite often, once you wear any type of earplug, your body usually becomes more comfortable. It doesn’t mean you like how it sounds, but your body and brain are more comfortable when you take the edge off loud music.
So between partygoers simply adapting to wearing universal fitting earplugs, and then subsequently searching for better sounding or better fitting options (which lined up with us breaking into the market by doing fittings for musicians and industry professionals), word got around about our product and we started getting noticed.
Where we fill the void is by offering the fitting service direct to the consumer, or even direct to the venue or event. We found that once we made the fitting part accessible, the decision to invest in high quality hearing protection was much easier.
From there, it was really our clients who helped validate to their peers WHY spending close to $200 for a set of earplugs wasn’t just worth it, it was necessary. So long as we achieve two things: our product fits perfectly and sounds great, and so long as we have good customer service, then people will be happy and share how our product has positively impacted their lives. We have been very fortunate this way.
Credit: Edgar Florian
How many cities is 1of1 in at the moment, and where would you like to expand in the future? If you’re not in a city with a 1of1 office, how can someone get their hands on a pair?
JH: We have physical locations in New York City, Los Angeles, and Burlingame, CA (Bay Area)
We also have sales agents who work remotely in Denver, Detroit, Miami, Philadelphia, Portland, and Tampa.
If someone is outside of our service area, they are able to have their ear impressions taken at an audiologist or ENT local, who would then send their impressions to us for production of the plugs.
Tell us about your activation at WMC with MusiCares.
JH: We have been a partner to MusiCares for several years with their hearing health initiative, and are proud to be their chosen provider for custom earplugs.
MusiCares supports musicians and those working in the music industry with many different health services, and for this particular event we’ll be offering ear impression services for the purpose of giving away PRO filtered custom earplugs to those that qualify for benefits under MusiCares. Those that qualify will come to us for the ear molding, and after the event we will take their molds to produce the earplugs which are later mailed to the recipients. The activation will be taking place Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 12pm to 4pm. It’s really amazing what MusiCares does and we’re proud to be a part of it.
What do you think the future of ear plugs looks like?
JH: It’s a really exciting time to be in the hearing world. 10 years ago, it was a very hushed topic – now, earplugs are considered an essential item if you’re attending events. I think we’ll continue to see new companies entering the market – but similar to footwear, this is a limited space to work with when trying to be innovative beyond current offerings. On the electronic front, however, I think there will be more development focused on active noise cancellation products, earbuds, and in-ear monitors.
📣 Don’t miss this crucial conversation! Join Jaye Hamel at WMC for an Essential Conversation on Wellness in the Music Industry 🎶✨
📅 Health on the Road: Touring and Self-Care Wednesday, March 26 | 2:30-3:30 PM
📍 WMC – Pompeii Ballroom
🎟 Register now at WINTERMUSICCONFERENCE.COM
