Apple's AirPods Pro hearing health features

Went to see an artist (DJ) I liked and forgot my filters. Remembered that I had my AirPods Pro and used them in transparency mode and after only 10 minutes completely forgot I had them even in. I was surprised how good they worked as hearing protection!

Now when I’m at festivals and I have friends without earplugs, I usually recommend them to just use their AirPods Pro (if they have some) instead of buying cheap plugs

This comment confuses me, but makes sense. Concerts are for consuming sound, people wear ear plugs??? Wouldn't that defeat the purpose? Like a blindfold in a theater?

The music at many concerts and nightclubs is unfortunately loud enough to cause permanent hearing loss.

Ear plugs reduce the volume to a level where you can still hear the music, but the risk of long term damage is reduced. (You can get "musician's ear plugs" which attenuate all frequencies equally, so they don't make the music sound weird.)