Ear Protection

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Skawt

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Looking to get in the shooting sport, I have no experience with it on my own.
Is it mandatory to wear ear protection while shooting at ranges? Could I go without?

I ask this because I am hearing impaired - for simplicity's sake it's slightly over 60% loss in both ears (the specific frequencies are on my audiograms). I have shot in the past and most of the time the person I was with just made me wear them anyway; however, doing so I am completely deafened to what's going on around me. As some can imagine, especially when dealing with firearms all around me, I would prefer to be aware of my surroundings. I'm not sure on the entirety of how the ear works but I'm pretty confident a gun shot won't cause me any (more) lasting damage than I have.

What are my options? :confused:
 
When I started shooting years ago, my hearing was 100%. Not any more. Due to loud noises ( read gunfire )
I now have to wear hearing aids due to about 50% loss. My audiologist strongly suggested that I wear
hearing protection when shooting to try to preserve what I have remaining. Being 50 % impaired is one thing.
100% is another.
So my answer to your question would be to wear very good hearing protection.
 
Thanks for the responses. It's an issue that's been bothering me for a bit, I will take a look into the electronic option when I start picking things up.
 
+1 on the Peltor Sport Tacs. I've got the cheaper Howard Leight and they're good but the Peltor fit me better. If shooting indoors, you might want to double up with some ear plugs too.
 
Eyes & ears REQUIRED at my local range EOHC...

And, like some others have said, NOT wearing protection comes with it's consequences...

Personally, I wear ear plugs AND ear muffs @ the same time to prevent any further loss of hearing... The only shots I now hear without protection is the occassional upland shotgun blast & the one round I may fire at a deer in the fall...

Cheers
Jay
 
if I were you, I'd get a good set of 30 nrr passive muffs (none of the electronic muffs get close to that level of protection) and then I'd also use ear plugs. Mad even then the jury is out as to whether that fully protects your hearing or simply reduces the damage.

After that, enjoy the sport.
 
jzz30tt said:
I've got the howard leight electronic's and I love em. Not that pricey either at under 50 when i bought em in the states
Click to expand...

I'll look into those as well. Thanks guys.

This seems like my only barrier to entering the sport - finding a balance between hearing what's going on around me and protecting what I have left in terms of hearing. I guess I'm just afraid of someone around me saying "stop firing for a second" and I completely miss that. To me, that's important.
 
Skawt said:
I'll look into those as well. Thanks guys.

This seems like my only barrier to entering the sport - finding a balance between hearing what's going on around me and protecting what I have left in terms of hearing. I guess I'm just afraid of someone around me saying "stop firing for a second" and I completely miss that. To me, that's important.
Click to expand...

That's why i love the electronic ear pro. It will amplify people talking for you and still cut the report of a round being fired. The best of both worlds!

All the best!
 
jzz30tt said:
That's why i love the electronic ear pro. It will amplify people talking for you and still cut the report of a round being fired. The best of both worlds!

All the best!
Click to expand...

The only fly in your ointment is that your electronics muffs don't provide enough protection. They may reduce hearing loss but it is highly unlikely they are enough to prevent hearing loss. And such heating loss is slow, cumulative, and non reversible. You are going deaf with your electronic peltors or whatever, you just don't know it yet.
 
Skawt said:
I'll look into those as well. Thanks guys.

This seems like my only barrier to entering the sport - finding a balance between hearing what's going on around me and protecting what I have left in terms of hearing. I guess I'm just afraid of someone around me saying "stop firing for a second" and I completely miss that. To me, that's important.
Click to expand...


Always good to be alert and safety aware, but this will not be a problem.

As other people already wrote, electronic muffs will make conversation even easier to hear, but will muffle shooting noise.

Also, at the shooting range people will loudly call- command 'Ceasefire', not just casually suggest that you stop firing for a second, and will ensure that they have been heard.
Once you go through PAL course, everything will make more sense to you.


Cheers,
Dan
 
colinjw said:
When I started shooting years ago, my hearing was 100%. Not any more. Due to loud noises ( read gunfire )
I now have to wear hearing aids due to about 50% loss. My audiologist strongly suggested that I wear
hearing protection when shooting to try to preserve what I have remaining. Being 50 % impaired is one thing.
100% is another.
So my answer to your question would be to wear very good hearing protection.
Click to expand...

I agree 100% and also have the same hearing loss....maybe we should get everyone with hearing loss due to firearms together and start a class action lawsuit against the government for outlawing noise reduction devises on firearms....I really wonder how that would go!!!
 
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