Ear/hearing protection??

Other thread on elk got me to thinking. How many of you are religious on using some type of ear protection when shooting any firearm?

I have so many friends and hunting buddies (mostly older guys in their 60's or 70's) who never used anything and many of them are literally deaf. Most have hearing aids. My Dad made me use protection as a youngster and I have always done so. Result is no hearing loss at all at my age 70.

Hope the younger guys on this forum see this post and think about it.

Have used them religiously as an adult, but didn't as a kid, so some loss in right ear (shoot left-handed). I don't shoot, period, without ear plugs. Plenty on here say they don't use anything in the blind.

Same here. Hearing loss from my job in the USAF didn't help.

Correctly righteous. Youth should always sip from the cup of knowledge already filled by the more mature.

I wear some Peltor earmuffs at the bench, and when using chainsaws, weed eaters, wood planers, Jointers. Until recently, I never used hearing protection when hunting. But then I bought a 6.5 Grendel upper, which didn’t bother me at the bench. But in the blind one evening, I cranked off a round at a big hog, and Owch! It had a muzzle brake, and the blast was amazing. So I have hearing protection in the blinds and I got rid of the muzzle brake.

Might have lost some hearing in the Marines.

And anybody shooting here WILL wear hearing protection. I insist.

I’m religious in using my suppressor.

I never have but wish I did. I've noticed a little bit of hearing loss, but most my issue is the constant ringing in both my ears.

Walker Razor rechargeable is the way to go. A silencer helps, but I already have hearing damage from work injury so supers still are too much for me

TLK, your dad did you a huge favor. I'm one of those that didn't realize the importance of hearing and eye protection. I'm in my 70's now and have lost the majority of hearing. I have religiously worn hearing protedtion for the last twenty years, but too little too late. I've found that regular earplugs seal the best. I've tried most all of the muffs and Walker's products. I wear them (earplugs) whenever I run a mower, chainsaw, or on the tractor. I've got to prserve what little I have left. I hate my hearing aids.

Rifles suppressed won’t shoot an unsuppressed rifle anymore. Shotguns and handguns always wear hearing protection same with my son.

I'm religious about for the past 5 years. 25 years too late. Tinnitus sux.

I do now. Never did as a kid. I still don’t in the blind though. 45 and have some hearing loss. Also a contractor/carpenter so that didn’t help.

What, in the hell, is a blind supposed to do acousticly? It don't make no sense!

No but I’ve got some hearing loss and tinnitus from my military service. Used hearing protection for those jobs, have hearing protection for Kiddos though.

What? I can't hear you.

Jk. At the bench, always have hearing protection. In the field, I never wear hearing protection. When the barrel is outside the blind, I never have had issues with noise. If I'm in an open tree stand, no issues either. Now, I did light off an inline ML in the stand once, and that hurt. 209 primers are LOUD! I wear earpro with inline muzzleloaders, but that's about it. No hearing loss to date.

Be careful, unclebubba. I hadn’t fired a gun in 6 months when my ears started ringing one night. Thought I’d go crazy. Went to the doc and he said sometimes that’s how it happens….damage gets done but doesn’t show up for a while. This coming spring it will be 40 years. Right ear hearing is almost gone, left ear about 50% loss. Trust us, people get REALLY TIRED of having to repeat themselves to you.

Huh?

Damage is done but I’m suppressed now. Even so, most times I use the highest rated foam plugs (33s) as well, and I use them anytime I’m running the tractor, leaf blower, mower, even hammering. Tinnitus sucks.

I've been a hearing Nazi during 99% of my adult years. In my early Army days I did get caught stupidly doing a rifle qual or trench clearing live fire without ear pro. Ears went numb quickly after the shooting started.

Last 25 years, I usually wear ear plugs even when mowing/weed-eating/chain-sawing, and plugs/muffs certainly while shooting. Heck, I even wear ear pro most of the time when shooting suppressed, as most still aren't hearing safe. Might let a shot or two of .22LR go from a rifle without ear pro, but never from my Single Six. Almost 50 and no ringing yet.

Tinnus probably from being around 5 & 8" guns but hearing is still good - well, she says it isn't. Can't hear the old TV whine anymore - can hear her whine though.

It doesn't have to hurt or even be noticeable to do damage. It can happen a little at a time. You won't notice it until it's too late. Wear protection or suffer loss of hearing.

Always at the range obviously but I use some old Silenco ear plugs that I keep in my pack unless I have a beanie and hoodie on and then I blow it off.

Bring them every time I go hunting, can’t say I always remember to put them on when the target walks out

Only at the range. I'm seriously considering a set of high-end ear buds that offer improved hearing of ambient sounds and loud noise reduction.

Walker Razor Slim have probably 6 pair and wear them religiously. Hunted with a buddies dad a couple of weeks ago who wears hearing aids and still can't hear all that well. Put a pair on him and whispered as softly as I could in the blind and he was amazed he could hear me.

I am religious about it. I even use hearing protection with suppressed super sonic ammo.

Choose whichever discomfort you want
Use hearing protection, or have your ears
ring every waking hour like mine and many
others

I use Ear Inc. hearing/suppress in the ear aids. Have always shot with ear pro at the range not always when hunting. Ears ring all the time. I think a lot of my hearing loss is from fire works and one time firing my pistol off the front porch, that broke me of shooting from the front porch. Now I use my ear pro at the range or hunting or just shooting for grins. Even when I shoot suppressed I'm wearing ear pro. I wear ear pro even when I go see a movie, the sound is very loud can't hear yourself think it is so loud.

I have used Peltor for about the last 15 years at home and work

This above is the reason I made this post - Again I have too many friends walking around almost deaf -if it only keeps one person from having to do that then it is good

I use the Walker Raptor Bone Conduction with soft ear plugs stuffed up to my brain. Doing so, I can hear the Squirrel’s scratching around in the tallest trees. I used to operate the starting light tree at the drag strip. I endured a few too many Top Fuel & Funny Car burn-outs. Coupled with large doses of 70’s era concerts I was on the path to hearing loss at a very young age.

Fortunately, my eyes were opened after landing a job whose main focus was on safety. It saved what was left of my hearing.

I am thankful I can hear my feeder at even 200 yards.

I was a drummer...enough said.

FYI.

For those of you who have tinnitus and don't wear hearing aids, the HA's will make the tinnitus go away. At least it did for me. Costco is the best deal I've found on HA prices and they give you 6 months to return them if you don't like them where most places the return policy is 30 days.

I wear these now, I use to wear orange ear bud bands, these are multi functional

https://goaxil.com/collections/ear-buds/products/gx-extreme

I started using OtoPro Impulse this summer. Great ear plugs, I can hear people talking but they still work for shots.

https://otoprotechnologies.com/products/otopro-impulse

I wear hearing protection religiously in any type of range session, always have. But rarely do hunting. If on stand pig hunting I will stuff some wads of tp in my ears before lighting up a sounder, but I have plenty of time to prepare in that situation. My hearing is severely damaged already from being around loud stereos, concerts in the 80's & 90;s, race cars, construction sites, firearms, etc. I will never hear silence again, tinnitus is very real.

It's funny what I can hear and what I can't though. I guess certain frequencies are going or gone, others aren't. My grandfather was the same way, he served in an artillery battalion in WWII and of course had significant hearing loss, then went into industrial manufacturing afterward. As an example, he couldn't hear Cicadas at all, but could hear human voices fairly well. My wife swears I'm the opposite, I swear she just mumbles a lot, lol.

Up until 2000 I never wore hearing protection while hunting except shooting prairie dogs. In 2001 I interviewed and tested for another federal LEO job. I was in early 40's then and had lost considerable hearing in my left ear. From that date forward I have worn some type of protection while hunting or shooting. Many years of bird and varmint hunting with nothing took it's toll. Every rifle an ammo carrier with two ear plugs. I also use Sport Ear, Sound Gear and Walkers 2.0 electronic protection. When I'm doing metal work I have the Peltor on using a saw or grinder.

Bottom line: Its all about choices! Yep, ilm gonna be 69 in Feb, and my right ear is
already failing. I hear weird things at times, think my hearing is going down, but aging is
effecting it too!

I will say this some of new stuff on the market today new muffs, and auto plugs sold are
pretty neat, wish they were around 40+ yrs ago when i was shooting heavy....

Would like to try someday the ear plugs that amplify and reduce shots at the same time....
not sure the brand of them, id be willing to try some of them.

Always electronic muffs except with magnums, then it's basic plugs plus muffs. Did a lot of 12ga rounds without hearing protection when I was young, but at 70 my hearing is solid with normal high frequency roll off.

I sure wished I had. Never used them up until probably 10 years ago. Decades of shooting and too loud of music has left me with screaming tinnitus and loss of hearing. Oh, and that one time I walked up on a mobile 155 artillery battery without ear plugs when three of them cut loose didn't help.

I'm hoping to get some of those new in the ear electronic noise cancelers for Christmas.

I started shooting mid-life after working in the plants most of my life where hearing safety was always pushed hard, so I’ve always worn them.

On my ears, the plugs don’t work as good as the muffs, so around all the power tools and at the bench I wear the muffs, then I wear the plugs in the blind, even with a hoodie or whatever. The plugs don’t seem to mute the soft sounds…….I can still hear the animals in the brush. Last week I heard the doe blow an alarm when she busted me in the blind. She was about 75 yards away. I always wear hearing protection.

Let us know what you got and how you like them please.

Red