Opinion on hearing protection

[divingin]

I used foamies and 3 ridged plugs till the GSP-15 electronic plugs became available. Now, that is all I use!

I'm a fan of Etymotics as well. However, I find the rubber eartips uncomfortable for long term use, and their foam eartips seem to slip out after a while. What I've been using is sort of a hybrid: Take the core from a pair of foam tips, and graft on a Softie foam earplug. Takes a leather hole punch and a bit of contact cement. That allows the plug to reach deeper into the ear canal, so they don't tend to slip out and leak noise past. A lot easier on the canals than the silicone rubber eartips, too. Non-attenuated performance is lessened a bit by the extra foam, but hitting the amplification switch will boost what you hear.

 

[JRS]

No, right now, I am using shooting earplugs. Now I am safe from the hearing damage.

The damage has already been done. Preserve your remaining hearing. You don't recover what you have lost.

 

[jmatters]

I don't know about the Walker Ear Buds, but I do know that foam plugs are the most effective if they fit tight, and muffs are second best. I use both at once. My muffs are electronic. When I crank them up, I can hear conversations and range commands with the foam plugs still in. When the shooting is about to start I crank the volume back down. Works great. I also use the electronic muffs when hunting. Keeps my ears warm and helps me hear deer in the leaves. If I shoot, there is a cutoff.

I am glad that many like you get excellent results with quality electronic muffs.
But I need to add a cautionary note here:
I wore a new INEXPENSIVE electronic muff to ONE indoor BR match and got tinnitus THAT DAY.
These muffs failed to muffle the first shot, and then went quiet for "X" amount of time. After a lull, they resorted to unmuffled sound again.
Since this was a 50 shot centerfire match, I hurt myself permanently that day by cheaping out.
If you go the electronic route, go QUALITY; not bargain basement.

Editor: The sound reduction feature of electronic muffs is primarily accomplished by the shell, and should work even if the batteries are dead. However, if the microphones are picking up the actual shot noise and delivering that to your ears through the speakers, yes that is very very bad.

 

[Martin52]

You Called??

Norm again.
......... I would say the best bet is a good pair of electronic protectors like the Etymotic GSP-15 (like I use) or some of the other brands of hearing aid-like plugs. !

Norm - in cases of vertigo (BPPV) caused by loose small crystals of calcium floating around in the inner ear, can you say whether the GSP-15 will help prevent any further damage of this nature ? BPPV can be an old age thing but the loosening of the crystals may have arisen due to shock to the ear from inadequate prior ear protection. Would appreciate your comments.

Martin

 

[Kurt Blasser]

Norm,
The etymotics gps 15 only offer 15 db of noise reduction according to the web site. Is that enough?

 

[Knotwild]

Norm,
The etymotics gps 15 only offer 15 db of noise reduction according to the web site. Is that enough?

I am curious about that too. I was looking at the Etymotic site tonight and they do not list an NRR for any of their products. But in the Specification area they clearly show that foam plugs inserted deeply out perform their regular ear plugs. They simply do not suggest how much the NRR rating for the GPS 15 is, other than to say that the NRR rating. does not accurately describe their attenuation.

I would like to spring for a pair, but not if foam plugs work better. I don't need to be able to hear well while protecting my hearing.

 

[divingin]

If I'm not mistaken, 15db is the amount of attenuation the electronics provide (i.e. from their amplified level, the cutout when a shot occurs is 15db.)

The normal NRR (Noise Reduction Rating) is 25db. It's listed as an icon below the description on the GSP-15 information page.

 

[dcali]

Under real conditions, with dust and sweat and movement and the like, I have not found foam alone to be reliable. Maybe it’s just my ears but I can’t consistnely get them to fit properly without a lot of effort.

So I disagree that foam is good enough alone. It may be in a lab. But I’ve had far better results (judging by discomfort at least) with foam under muffs, with the added benefit that I can turn the muffs’ volume up to hear range commands.

Muffs alone are no good in my experience - especially the low profile ones or when wearing glasses, as we all should be. In practice, I’ve found that doubling up is noticeably more comfortable on the ears. If I get the foam in just right and they stay there, they’re plenty good alone. But that just doesn’t seem to happen much.

Also, if you look into it, the frequency of the noise matters quite a bit for some forms of ear pro. The NRR is not very reliable and is sort of a catch-all spec. You need to look at the attenuation of the frequencies found in gunshots. If it’s no good there, it doesn’t matter how well it blocks out the birds tweeting.

 

[XTR]

Kind of timely that someone topped this. My right ear is still ringing today.

I've got a set of Walker's Game ears plugs that I use when I hunt. This weekend I used them when I was supervising my sons with their 22s. The amplification makes it easy to talk w/o yelling. All was fine.

Then I had the wife take a couple of shots with an AR carbine. I was standing on her right facing her while she handled the rifle and took a few shots to get a feel for it. (like 3 shots, not a mag dump)

These are probably fine to be behind the rifle for one shot in the woods, but they don't need to go to the range, and they aren't enough protection to be lateral to muzzle blast.

 

[Paula Marie Hamilton]

With my son shooting so much I wanted to protect his hearing, but not break the bank. I got the ones that you mix two parts together then insert into your ears, we also put lanyard in the mix. You have to push it around a bit to get the best fit, but the end result is great. Maybe down the road we will get the high price ones, but for now this works well.