I lost over 50% of the hearing in my left ear, and over 10% of the hearing in my right ear, as well have the constant and not-so-soothing ring of Tinnitus in both ears, wholly caused by unprotected hunting. I’m 21yrs into this particular pleasure, and the hearing in both ears has continued to decline. Only took a few years hunting coyotes with a .270win to cause irreparable damage which will be with me the rest of my life.
I’ll second the notion - anyone who justifies hunting unprotected because of warmth, speed, or comfort is just making excuses. There are enough commonly known methods to skin this particular cat, if you can’t find one which works for you, then you’re not looking.
I’ve played the game where I insert one in my “muzzle side” ear and leave the other out until it’s time to shoot - it does work fine. I’ve also played the game where I wore my ear muff’s on my head until game time. Also works fine - and clamping down on a hood, balaclava, or stocking cap actually tends to improve the protection factor of many muffs, even if you’re too lazy to wear them under your hood.. More often, I wear electronic plugs or muffs. I have 3 pairs personally, all of them are compatible with hats - behind the neck models are readily available. I have 10 pairs of over-the-head electronic muffs as well, as loaners for firearms classes so all of my folks can hear instructions, but remain well protected. I also have a handful of suppressors, and almost all of my hunting rifles will accept them (although only two of my specialty pistols and none of my revolvers are threaded, and I DO hunt more with handguns than anything else).
Electronic hearing protection is typically more sensitive than your ear, and can amplify game signatures, so it’s another lame excuse to me when guys tout “I can’t hear game,” as their excuse. Every season it happens when a partner without protection says, “do you hear that?” To which, if I did not, my response is to turn up my volume. More often, I’m the one picking up some sound they had not heard with their naked ear.
And yes, I do wear hearing protection whenever I’m around dangerous noise - I typically have a few packs of plugs in my truck, backpack, laptop bag, etc, and usually a pair in my pocket, as I do a lot of typical “man schitt” which also requires hearing protection, like run small engine equipment, operate farm equipment, use power tools, work around loud industrial equipment, move cattle or load grain into idling semi-trucks... it’s easy to forget at first, but it’s no different than picking up my 3 W’s every day (wallet, watch, and weapon).
Electronic solutions are expensive compared to traditional plugs or muffs. Hearing aids are far moreso. A guy hanging onto his 30’s shouldn’t be comparing prices of hearing aides and ear muffs - but that’s the pleasure I earned in my youth by hunting unprotected.
. On the other hand I always use earplugs when mowing the lawn with a gasoline mower, trimming the hedges, using power tools, and I never use "ear buds", and even at the range when I'm alone I have plugs in, because the shooting stations concentrate the sound. 
