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Everything You Need To Know About Modern Hearing Protection

Annihilator

Annihilator

Emissary
Founding Member
Advertising. Beware of those jobbies that claim to allow speech to be heard then shut off the sound when she says KABOOM! I've tried em (wasted my hard earned $) and there ain't no such thing. Earplugs with over the ear protectors is the only way. Have a conversation when you come off the firing line. Take it from one who has hearing loss in the speech tones.........and no hearing aid yet that addresses that issue.
 
C. Sumpin said:
Advertising. Beware of those jobbies that claim to allow speech to be heard then shut off the sound when she says KABOOM! I've tried em (wasted my hard earned $) and there ain't no such thing. Earplugs with over the ear protectors is the only way. Have a conversation when you come off the firing line. Take it from one who has hearing loss in the speech tones.........and no hearing aid yet that addresses that issue.
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"...Beware of those jobbies that claim to allow speech to be heard then shut off the sound when she says KABOOM! I've tried em (wasted my hard earned $) and there ain't no such thing. Earplugs with over the ear protectors is the only way. Have a conversation when you come off the firing line."

BS. The pr I have, and the pr my wife used work just fine. I have a perfectly normal conversation wearing the earpro with my grandson when he's at the range with me.

Good to hear the "plugs and muffs" work for you. That was the tried and true method we used extensively when dbl hearing protection was req'd during my Navy days......many years ago.
 
I used the cans big enough so I could only hear the voices in my head. Didn't work out so well when I was instructing the kids at the range. I bought Howard Leight for everyone so I didn't have to scream. Always bring back up batteries in my range bag just in case. Seem to do a good enough job and I still have my voice when I leave.
 
jmcd said:
I use to use the cans big enough so I could only hear the voices in my head. Didn't work out so well when I was instructing the kids at the range. I bought Howard Leight for everyone so I don't have to scream. Always bring back up batteries in my range bag just in case. Seem to do a good enough job and I still have my voice when I leave.
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👍 Ditto. Howard Leight Impact is what we use, and have never had a problem with them.
 
C. Sumpin said:
Advertising. Beware of those jobbies that claim to allow speech to be heard then shut off the sound when she says KABOOM! I've tried em (wasted my hard earned $) and there ain't no such thing. Earplugs with over the ear protectors is the only way. Have a conversation when you come off the firing line. Take it from one who has hearing loss in the speech tones.........and no hearing aid yet that addresses that issue.
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It depends on where you shoot, and how much you want to pay.

Of you mainly shoot at busy indoor ranges...I’d agree, double earpro will be necessary, and the sound clipping is pretty much useless. Learn to read lips or sign language if you want to have a conversation there.

However, if you’re like me and the vast majority of your shooting is done at outdoor ranges...good 28dB+ NRR electronic muffs work just dandy.

Still...the best hearing protection you can use is a suppressor. NRR 50 or better is not uncommon...and that’s not dependent on absolutely perfect usage, either.
 
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Thanks again Anni,

"I hear yah?" Verses "Can you hear me now?"
In some ways funny and other ways not so much?
Hearing phones ringing? Maybe lucky if that's all hearing? Constantly hearing whine of high speed data transmissions when there isn't any is a bit more than distracting.

Just need to get by with a fairly inexpensive set of hearing muffs alternative to so-so working earplugs? A very good non battery powered, non adjustable sound alternative are these: ( Note the description of as to why. Muffs are and can be very important choice at a glance than buds.)

 
jmcd said:
I used the cans big enough so I could only hear the voices in my head. Didn't work out so well when I was instructing the kids at the range. I bought Howard Leight for everyone so I didn't have to scream. Always bring back up batteries in my range bag just in case. Seem to do a good enough job and I still have my voice when I leave.
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I also use the impact earpro and sometimes walker razor. I typically double up on my earpro with muffs and foamies when at the range.

I always have the kids doubled up as an extra caution as well.
 
Good to hear the "plugs and muffs" work for you. That was the tried and true method we used extensively when dbl hearing protection was req'd during my Navy days......many years ago.

During my Army days many more years ago, with the M1 ( that's right, the last company ever to qualify with it, Ft. Knox, then came the M-14 ) the .45 cal, M-16, M-60, hand grenades, plastics, mortars, artillery, jet engine blasts, claymores, AK's, helicopter.........you get the picture........NEVER A WORD SAID ABOUT HEARING PROTECTION in training, practice or other. Nothing in the manuals. No verbal warnings. The result of my voluntary service? Never again to experience silence. Ringing always there. Crickets and buzzing never cease. The whisper of the breeze, the chirp of a wren, the tingle of a wind chime, coo of a baby, snap of a twig......gone. Forever. No conversation in a crowd or with background noise, its the speech tones my friend, say might sound like they, gay, gray, hey, bay, nigh, kay, and visa versa. Do not understand what your child is trying to tell you from the back seat. And you will never train anyone to speak clearly and distinctly, they tire of the repetitions trying to communicate so sometimes you say you understood when you did not. The ups and downs in volume in a movie, forget it, never get the quiet exchanges. But I can hear just fine!! The TV, the music, everything is often too loud, it is the misunderstanding in the speech tones.

Hearing handicap will isolate you from friends and family and work, can't blame them. Say this one last time, the technology to allow speech and protect your hearing from blasts does not exist, it may seem like it does but when you discover over time it has failed.....too late. My last word on this subject.
 
C. Sumpin said:
Good to hear the "plugs and muffs" work for you. That was the tried and true method we used extensively when dbl hearing protection was req'd during my Navy days......many years ago.

During my Army days many more years ago, with the M1 ( that's right, the last company ever to qualify with it, Ft. Knox, then came the M-14 ) the .45 cal, M-16, M-60, hand grenades, plastics, mortars, artillery, jet engine blasts, claymores, AK's, helicopter.........you get the picture........NEVER A WORD SAID ABOUT HEARING PROTECTION in training, practice or other. Nothing in the manuals. No verbal warnings. The result of my voluntary service? Never again to experience silence. Ringing always there. Crickets and buzzing never cease. The whisper of the breeze, the chirp of a wren, the tingle of a wind chime, coo of a baby, snap of a twig......gone. Forever. No conversation in a crowd or with background noise, its the speech tones my friend, say might sound like they, gay, gray, hey, bay, nigh, kay, and visa versa. Do not understand what your child is trying to tell you from the back seat. And you will never train anyone to speak clearly and distinctly, they tire of the repetitions trying to communicate so sometimes you say you understood when you did not. The ups and downs in volume in a movie, forget it, never get the quiet exchanges. But I can hear just fine!! The TV, the music, everything is often too loud, it is the misunderstanding in the speech tones.

Hearing handicap will isolate you from friends and family and work, can't blame them. Say this one last time, the technology to allow speech and protect your hearing from blasts does not exist, it may seem like it does but when you discover over time it has failed.....too late. My last word on this subject.
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So, wait a minute.

You’re saying that, because your hearing was damaged because you didn’t wear ANY hearing protection, that properly used electronic muffs are ineffective when used in the right environment?

That’s a little hyperbolic, don’t you think?
 
Read in my first post on the topic I had experience also with the electronic gadgets, after the military experience and found they simply did not work. All I'm doing is giving my experience and my opinion on the subject and highlighting the importance of protecting your hearing. Anyone is free to use what they believe is effective. There is nothing hyperbolic about life changing and experience limiting hearing handicap.
 
C. Sumpin said:
Read in my first post on the topic I had experience also with the electronic gadgets, after the military experience and found they simply did not work. All I'm doing is giving my experience and my opinion on the subject and highlighting the importance of protecting your hearing. Anyone is free to use what they believe is effective. There is nothing hyperbolic about life changing and experience limiting hearing handicap.
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Exactly that. It can happen and does.
Electronics of any kind can and do fail. Even manual hearing protection can fail when it's too used and abused, not installed/fitted or used correctly. For example, how many electronic anythings, especially the imported versions fail? Even simple flashlights, radios, clocks? Then, inefficient owners or users manuals in 57 different languages that few if any people can decipher and understand?
 
BobM said:
Exactly that. It can happen and does.
Electronics of any kind can and do fail. Even manual hearing protection can fail when it's too used and abused, not installed/fitted or used correctly. For example, how many electronic anythings, especially the imported versions fail? Even simple flashlights, radios, clocks? Then, inefficient owners or users manuals in 57 different languages that few if any people can decipher and understand?
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Yes, but on electronic earpro, if the electronics fail, you don't hear anything...they act like regular, non-electronic earpro.

Failure to use correctly usually comes in not fitting it properly to your head, and guess what? If you do that with electronic muffs, you’re probably not going to wear non-electronic muffs properly as well.

Fact is, most people don't wear their earpro correctly; for example, if you use foam plugs, do you twist them first, then pull your ear up and back before inserting? If you use rubber/silicone plugs, do you wet them before inserting, and also pull your ear up & back? Do your glasses go underneath the pads of your muffs?

Again...this is why suppressors are the best earpro money can buy.
 
C. Sumpin said:
During my Army days many more years ago, with the M1 ( that's right, the last company ever to qualify with it, Ft. Knox, then came the M-14 ) the .45 cal, M-16, M-60, hand grenades, plastics, mortars, artillery, jet engine blasts, claymores, AK's, helicopter.........you get the picture........NEVER A WORD SAID ABOUT HEARING PROTECTION in training, practice or other. Nothing in the manuals. No verbal warnings.
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That sounds like my dad's experience in the US Army as well, around 59-62 give or take. He says there was never hearing protection, and his hearing is far from good. I believe he qualified on most of the weapons you list, before getting into wire guided anti-tank missiles and heavy weapons. I feel that he gets left out of a lot of conversations because he can't understand what is being said. We try to get him to go get tested for hearing aids, but he refuses to.
 
When I go to the indoor range, I wear a set of foam plugs under my Walker's Razor muffs. The Razor amplifies conversation enough to hear through the plugs, and the plugs give me more blocking of all the stuff going on in the range. Maybe outdoors the Razor would be enough by itself.
 
Interesting article concerning the history of hearing protection and the military:

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Heritage of Army Audiology and the Road Ahead: The Army Hearing Program

Noise-induced hearing loss has been documented as early as the 16th century, when a French surgeon, Ambroise Paré, wrote of the treatment of injuries sustained by firearms and described acoustic trauma in great detail. Even so, the protection ...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

C. Sumpin, what was your MOS during your enlistment?
 
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