Minimizing the risk of hearing loss from shooting

[normmatzen]

I stand by what I said.

By the way, get the Etymotic plugs "designed" for professional musicians, they are the cheapest and protect as well.

By By the way, The Etymotic plugs are built around a VERY high quality Analog hearing aid. Because of this, the fidelity is way better and an important thing for military and police use, the situational awareness is not degraded when using them. Digital devices have very poor fidelity as max frequency response is sacrificed to save battery power and the digital signal processor adds a delay that can screw up sound localization ( situational awareness).

 

[rjtfroggy]

After reading the last few post on this subject over a couple months I finally decided to get the Etymotic EB15's. Well I used them for the first time on Saturday at a BR match and they worked great, 15 guns per relay and I could hear range commands and the guys 2-3 benches away talking. No ringing in my ears afterwards and after trying all the different plugs I decided the silicone plunger style fit and felt the best. I will be getting the custom ear plugs made for these but after spending $335 for the devices another $150 needs to wait a while.
My only complaints are wind noise in right ear was uncomfortable and left ear was starting to hurt after about 4 hours of use(reason for wanting custom).
Over all much better than the electronic muffs ( I have 3 different brands) way better than regular plugs and I just don't like the foamies so I won't use them.
Normmatzen is 100% correct IMO these do work as advertised, if you can afford them go for it or save until you can.

 

[hayboy]

If you are young and don't want to end up with profound hearing loss like I have along with the others who posted here, ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS use hearing protection. And if I may, lather on the SPF 50 ---this is from a guy who is social security/medicare eligible, has 2 Re-Sound aids at a not so cheap 2k EACH, had multiple sun induced cancerous and pre-cancerous lesions removed and now has religion!
When I was young you never wore ear gear and laughed at the ringing after 100 rounds of 12 gauge at the skeet range. You also used iodine in baby oil to potentiate the sun--can you say stupid.
Now we live with the consequences.

And the fan you sleep with needs to be high quality to cover the crickets

Be smarter than I was.

Gary

 

[Cassidy]

Will using a suppressor on my rifle reduce the risk of hearing loss if I also wear ear plugs and ear muffs? Part of this question is whether my neighbors on the firing line risk my hearing even if I use a suppressor on my rifle, which I think for sure they can, but maybe less so than if I don't use a suppressor on my rifle. If I need to find a place to shoot by myself with no one else on the firing line t reduce the risk, I think that may be doable.

 

[M14AMU]

Hmmm....what was that????? Could ya please repeat??

 

[sfldiver]

I haven't been shooting that long, but I quickly realized that shooting myself, and being in very close proximity to, high powered rifles with muzzle brakes, even with ok hearing protection, was seriously affecting my hearing. I would finish at the range and leave with discomfort and a stuffy feeling in my ears for days. When I had ringing in my ears for a week or so, I realized that I need to to take hearing protection more seriously.

I now always double up on hearing protection - I use Radian foam inserts (NRR 32), and take great care to PROPERLY insert them to ensure they're filling up my ear canal, then I top it off with a pair of Pro Gold non-electronic 33's, that have a large profile and cover a large area around my ear.

Now, when I leave the range, I feel great, as if I hadn't been at the range at all!

My hearing was never perfect before I started shooting (too many rock concerts and loud stereo playing as a young adult), but I only hope I stopped any additional damage before I completely destroyed my hearing.

 

[people]

Will using a suppressor on my rifle reduce the risk of hearing loss if I also wear ear plugs and ear muffs? Part of this question is whether my neighbors on the firing line risk my hearing even if I use a suppressor on my rifle, which I think for sure they can, but maybe less so than if I don't use a suppressor on my rifle. If I need to find a place to shoot by myself with no one else on the firing line t reduce the risk, I think that may be doable.

The lower the noise level the better it is for your hearing. I am not a fan of the rifle range when I am quiet. Granted more people who get exposed to suppressors more will join.

 

[DataSmith]

The biggest problem I have with most in-ear plugs is that I have a narrow ear canal that goes back at an odd angle. It makes putting them in extremely difficult.

The plugs I find work the best are ones like the Howard Leight Smart Fit (flanged cone). I can pretty much eliminate noise with them and still hear close conversations. But after about an hour, they start to irritate my ear canal. This makes them impractical for any kind of match shooting.

The ones I am using now are from Pro-Ears and are custom molded by an audiologist. These fit great and I can wear them all day comfortably. I can use these alone with pistols and rifles without a brake, but if I'm near a loud rifle, I want (electronic) muffs as well.

While I am tempted to try the Etymotic, I really hate the idea of spending $300 on something that I may or may not be able to wear comfortably. They have a custom mold version, but that's going to add another $200 or so once everything is done.

 

[Cassidy]

Norm, please provide a reply. Do you think adding a suppressor (not a brake) to my rifle will reduce the risk of hearing loss; I am particularly interested in your thoughts about whether using a suppressor will reduce exposure (sound, shock wave) to the mastoid bone and therefore reduce the risk of hearing loss. A separate issue is the effect of a suppressor on shooting precision, but my primary question is the previous sentence.

 

[Alexander-M]

A subject dear to my ears!

As a consequence of improper hearing protection in my early 20’s while shooting a lot of skeet and occasional rifle and pistol, and running pulse-jet engines for U-Control racing airplanes (anyone remember those?), I lost practically all hearing in my left ear, and a lot of my right. I cannot hear high frequencies at all, but the worst part is that starting when I turned 60 or thereabouts, I lost the ability to understand the spoken word. I wear hearing aids when I am not shooting, which let me hear sounds and noises, but I still cannot understand anything if more than one person talks at the same time, or if there is any background noise. I have had to give up going to the movies unless they have closed-captioning (as TV at home) but the movies and theaters with this feature are few.

Now my challenge is to be able to hear and understand the shooting commands and other communication while shooting. For the past 10 years or so, I had been wearing well inserted foamies and Peltor-6S electronic muffs over them, and these provide excellent protection, but I miss too much. Over the past week, I decided to wear just the Peltor, and I believe these alone will work fine for me now. I know that they were not enough when first bought them and was shooting indoors or in outdoor ranges that had walls or baffles between the shooting positions, but in open ranges the muffs alone are fine – for me.

I still have problems with the muffs contacting the rifle stock (cheek piece/riser), and would much prefer to get by with just some sort of an ear plug, Maybe the GSP15 would work?

Bottom line - DO PROTECT YOUR HEARING!

Nando

 

[normmatzen]

Cassidy,

As I live in California where suppressors are illegal, I know nothing about them.
Personally, I would still wear my GSP=15's as the suppressor doesn't protect from your neighbors gun!

 

[normmatzen]

By the way, this thread, and most on this forum, is rife with anecdotal evidence!

What's that? That's when some one says, "A friend of my brother-in-law said------!"

In my 50 odd year career as an engineer and audiologist, any evidence that is not lab or clinically tested and preferably peer reviewed is promptly ignored!

When you see a statement here that sounds "off" and you aren't sure, ask me and I will research it and tell you what the proper evidence says!

 

[Cassidy]

Thanks, Norm!

 

[loneranger04]

I'll jump in on this and preach from my soap box for awhile. I have two legally owned suppressors. One for my .22 and one for my center fire rifles. I shoot long range precision matches and most shooters are either shooting a suppressor or a compensator. Of course these are the exact opposite of each other when it comes to noise pollution. I believe that if suppressors were legal across the counter without any wait then many more of the shooters would be using a can instead of comps. Comps on any gun increase the noise level to where anyone shooting next to them will experience discomfort from the noise no matter how much hearing protection you wear. The concussion from the muzzle blast is uncomfortable for everyone except the shooter behind the gun. I know in parts of Europe that suppressors are common without laws restricting them and may even be required for target shooting. Unfortunately I doubt that we will see these mufflers for our guns easily available in the near future even though they make a lot of sense.