Hearing Protection

[rockytopva]

My brother in laws 70 year old dad decided to buy a pistol and took it out to practice. The thing he did not bring along with him was his hearing protection. Now he has hearing loss that requires him to wear hearing aids and answer everyone who talks to him with, "huh?"

I would be very careful shooting guns and make sure you are protecting your delicate ears while playing with those things. You may do more harm to yourself than what you might have lost in a break in!

 

[Darkhorse]

Fortunately, hearing protection is commonly available and cheap.
Good for lots of other things besides shooting, also.

 

[ChavaK]

I recommend buying high quality ear protection, and if you are shooting indoors, double plug.

 

[Servant68]

I was young and dumb and was hit and miss with wearing hearing protection in my teens and twenties. I now have tinnitus (constant ringing in my ears) and some lower frequency hearing loss. I am extremely careful now with wearing hearing protection.

 

[W2L]

I was young and dumb and was hit and miss with wearing hearing protection in my teens and twenties. I now have tinnitus (constant ringing in my ears) and some lower frequency hearing loss. I am extremely careful now with wearing hearing protection.

Me too.

 

[MarkRohfrietsch]

I was young and dumb and was hit and miss with wearing hearing protection in my teens and twenties. I now have tinnitus (constant ringing in my ears) and some lower frequency hearing loss. I am extremely careful now with wearing hearing protection.

Me too.

Me three!

Our club also has loaner ear muffs an safety glasses hanging in the range, and it is a mandatory rule that they must be worn. Period.

 

[rockytopva]

I am a Lab Technician at a large factory. One contract session about a decade ago I ran upon an old friend named Roger whom I have not seen for a while. I said Roger, hows it going? He said that he came down with Meniere's Disease, they took his drivers license (his wife drove him there), and he is on his way to disability. From the conversation I suspect loud noise was also a factor. I would definitely consider hearing protection when in noisy environments.

 

[Tallguy88]

You could also get a suppressor. Congress is debating the Hearing Protection Act which would remove most of the restrictions on suppressors for that very reason.

Hearing Protection Act pushes past 100 sponsors in House

 

[GeorgeJ]

Yup....put your ears and eyes on!

 

[Rigatoni]

Yes, definitely. I didn't wear ear protection on my first day working at a local range, and was standing right next to someone firing a shotgun. Thankfully, there's been no major complications with my hearing, but sometimes I do experience Tinnitus and ask people to repeat themselves.

The cheap, foam earplugs (usually carried by most ranges and gun clubs) work well for me. There are also more-expensive, electronic earplugs which allow for natural hearing up to a certain level of decibels, but automatically protect against loud noise from gunfire, vehicles, etc. I believe some also allow you to amplify non-harmful sound for improved distance detection.

 

[MarkRohfrietsch]

You could also get a suppressor. Congress is debating the Hearing Protection Act which would remove most of the restrictions on suppressors for that very reason.

Hearing Protection Act pushes past 100 sponsors in House

Not in Canada; prohibited.

 

[tansy]

When did people start wearing any kind of ear protection? Just wondered how many people over the centuries (since guns and cannons were invented) have damaged their ears hunting or in warfare etc? Horrible. Just wondered when people started realising they needed hearing protection.

 

[pescador]

I shot extensively as a young man without hearing protection and my hearing suffered because of it. I was told that there are hair cells in the ear that bend like stalks of grain from sound. If the sound is too severe the hair cells fracture and eventually lose their resilience = hearing loss. I now wear hearing aids and always use hearing protection when shooting, even when hunting.

I am also concerned that people that listen to very loud music are damaging their hearing, but that's for discussion elsewhere.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

I always wear hearing protection, even if it's only a .22...I'm hoping they'll pass one of the suppressor bills that are in the works as we speak.

People have an irrational fear of suppressors based on what they've seen in the movies. As a result, that seems to be the one things that we're actually stricter on than many Euro nations.