The ears are definitely one the most important tools a music producer utilizes. Although, sometimes it seems unavoidable getting a loud noise blasted in the ear, especially when mixing. When looking for melodies and different sounds, I turn the volume down. Reason being, some sounds are soft and some are piercing, so when opening up that new sound kit trying to find a new sound, I always recommend turning the volume down while sound browsing. Check out my Soundcloud.com/ zootroublebeats