Firearms, guns, handguns, rifles, etc when fired produce noise that average 155 decibels.
Repeated exposure to such loud noise will eventually damage your hearing and cause hearing loss.
Every shot is doing your hearing damage – if you don’t protect your hearing in some way.
Here are 3 ways to protect and prevent hearing loss when shooting.
Cup Style Hearing Protection
Cup style hearing protectors or shooting muffs like the Peltor Pro-tac and Pro-Ears offer the best hearing protection. Why? The size of the cups allow more room to insulate against loud noises.
One disadvantage of such shooting hearing protection is that such cup style protectors are bulky when worn. This can interfere with your shooting. For example, shooting a shotgun quickly is not easy because the bottom of the cup might contact the stock causing improper fit.
Such hearing protectors are better suited to bench rest competition shooters and handgun shooters as well.
Electronic Hearing Protection
Electronic ear muffs (cup style) offer superior hearing protection (as stated above) with the added advantage of amplifying sounds below a certain decibel level (such as a human voice) while cutting out decibel levels above a certain level (such as a gunshot).
Who makes such hearing protection? Pro Ears allows the competitive shooter, hunter and law enforcement agent to hear every sound, including conversation, even during high volume noise spikes. Pro Ears electronic earmuffs achieve a perfect balance between comfort, noise attenuation and purity of sound.
Preferred to ordinary style ear muffs because of the above advantages but expect to pay around $200 for a decent set of ear muffs such as Pro Ears.
Ear Plug Type Hearing Protection
Hearing protection custom molded to fit your ear canal combined with electronic hearing protection is the ultimate in hearing protection.
Firstly, the size of such hearing protection is small compared to regular ear muffs. Secondly, these ‘hearing aid’ style units are extremely comfortable so they can be worn all day without discomfort unlike ear muff types. Thirdly, the unit does not interfere with any style of shooting due to its compact size.
This style of hearing protection is suitable for all shooting sports and hunting. However, be prepared to spend around $1000 for a pair of high quality units.
Conclusion: Hearing protection for shooters is very important. No matter which style of hearing protection you choose, just be sure to choose one and use it all the time to protect your hearing and prevent hearing damage.
