Hearing protection...

[RealDcoy]

Greetings all,

I have a friend that recently returned from an African safari. He was hunting with a 300 winmag that was ported. The guide kept pulling his earplugs to talk to him, and at one point he took a shot without them in.

He has been diagnosed with Tinitus (sp?) [constant ringing in the ears]. He is making the painful decision to give up gun hunting totally after recommendation from his audiologist.

I have a family member with mild tinitus as well from shotgun hunting.

I have only had temporary ringing once from gunfire that I can remember. I have had the luxury of being able to put on muffs when hunting from my ground blind for deer, and I have used muffs always when target or skeet shooting.

Does anyone have experience with the "electroinic" ear protection devices out there? I am most concerned with my duck hunting actually. I would like to be able to hear my partner without having to yell, but have protection from the blast. I have not used muffs or plugs in the past while duck hunting

I know they are expensive, ($250+ and right on up from there!) but I am beginning to think VERY seriously about saving my hearing. Any experience or recommendations?

[Neapolis]

I don't have any experience with the electronic muffs, but I use the molded to your ear plugs. Got them years ago when I was shooting a lot of trap. There was a group that was going from shoot to shoot selling / fitting them. They don't seem to distort normal conversation but do muffle a sharp noise like a gun blast.

Be forewarned however that I already have some hearing loss, so someone without any hearing loss may not be as satisfied as I am with the plugs I have. Incidentally my loss was from standing to close to jet engines on a flightdeck rather than shooting, but any loss makes you a little more careful.

[RealDcoy]

Neapolis,

Are those the kind that have kind of a small "drum" inside?

I had a pair of earplugs for playing in my band in college that had a little metal "drum" in them with tiny holes in them that were supposed to do the same thing, but I thought they really cut normal conversation as well.

[shooter921]

That makes me think if I should start wearing them in the field. I don't as of right now. But when I am shooting skeet or at the target range then they are always in.

80

[Hamilton Reef]

I have less than 50% hearing from birth with bilateral nerve deafness, and attended the Michigan School for the Deaf when I was in grade school. Shooting noise was never a problem for me. Then I got hearing aids for my 11th birthday which, of course includes earmolds. Since then I have the neat situation that anytime I wish to shoot at the range, I simply turn off my hearing aids and my earmolds instantly become custom fitted earplugs. The best part is this trick also works for the wife, mother-in-law, and daughter.

[RealDcoy]

Just a note. I talked to my buddy that has the tinitus from the safari. One of the audiologists has him trying some custom "hearing aids".

I guess the constant ringing can really cause major stress. These hearing aids emit a "hush" type sound. I guess the idea is they "train" the ears to ignore the ringing. They aren't cheap either. $1,100.00 I guess!

And I thought the $250+ was bad!

[Neapolis]

RealDcoy,

No they don't have anything inside them. They are made out of a putty like material that never gets completly hard. still soft, but not pliable. One does have a little piece of hard plastic embeded on the outside. When I asked what that was for, they said it was to help you tell the right from the left. I can not imagine anyone putting one in the wrong ear. At least mine have a completely different shape for the right and left.

Yea $250 does sound like a bargain when you say $1,100.

Actually I kinda like what Hamilton has, although my wife says I can hear anything I want to now.

Shooter, it is a consideration. You realize how precious your hearing is after it has been diminished.

[Hunt4Ever]

Great idea. Here is a link to the pair I have.

http://www.aearo.com/html/products/peltor/peltor06.htm

You are correct, these are not cheap. I think I paid around $175 for mine, but they are worth twice that much. They use active noise reduction. Which means, if you talk normally, they amplify sounds. If a loud noise goes off, they cancel the noise.

They work great in the duck blind. I've even used them in the deer stand. You can hear a deer coming well before you see it. Although, chipmonks sounds like deer also.

These are excellent muffs.

[Steve in MI]

I had a custom set of molded plugs made for me a a hearing aid place. Cost me $45 . they work great.

[dogjaw]

Well, so much for my getting a ported barrel gun! I'll settle for recoil over hearing loss. Marlin's bulletin boards have the same complaints about noise levels in ported barrels. I'll buy a Decellerator recoil pad for $60 installed before putting up with that!

[Hunt4Ever]

Dogjaw,

Get some good hearing protection and a muzzlebrake. I have one from Answer Products. I have it on a 22-250. The rifle just sits there when you pull the trigger. Anyway, it is only loud shooting at a covered range. In the open, it isn't that loud.

[RealDcoy]

I have thought the same thing about a ported gun. ( Not getting it done.) I plan on adding a BPS magnum to my collection this year. I thought maybe I would have it ported, but this has influenced me not to. Since the gun will be for waterfowl only, I think I will get a good recoil pad and a mercury recoil reducer.

As for being in the open, my buddy was too. I just believe that it took this long to cause permanent damage. The damage can be from a one time occurance like this one, or from repeated exposure. Since damage can happen anywhere over 75 decibels, I would suggest that we have ALL been exposed at one time or another to damaging levels.

I also believe that when you are afield that noise and recoil just do not seem to affect you as much. Wouldn't you agree?