Ear protection

I did. I own a pair of Sensaphonics custom molded musicians ear plugs.

No need to spend £20. Packs of disposable earplugs cost next to nothing. If you know anyone on a building site just get em to grab a few dozen sets for ya otherwise head to a hardware store.

I found them for £15 and considering how much I'm likely to use them over the next few years I will probably be saving money compared to packs of disposable ones. And I can't really grab people because we are coding a PLC workstation, along with commisoning said station. So we need detailed conversation in this noise

One of the cheapest reusable earplugs I’ve tried is the Noise Cancelling Ear Plugs by EarJoy.