avoiding ear damage with powerful rifles

Atavar said:

Having spent years building and firing cannons I can say that muffs + plugs will still get ear damage.
Another component nobody seems to talk about is to keep your mouth shut when firing. The concussion pressure wave can enter through your mouth and attack your ear drums from the other side through the Eustachian tube.
This is why the Valsalva maneuver can clear your ears after an air pressure change, like when flying.
The same pressure wave can attack your ears through your nose.
This is why infantry troops (who don’t wear ear plugs) are told to open their mouth before an explosion, so the pressure wave hits the eardrums from both sides, equalizing the pressure on the eardrum. If you are wearing ear plugs opening your mouth makes things worse because you are allowing the pressure wave in from only one side of the eardrum.

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Sadly, this doesn't actually work. Merely opening the mouth doesn't open the eustachian tubes. It takes a particular maneuver - like the Valsalva - to do that. Moreover, open eustachian tubes don't reduce the sound pressure levels at the inner ear.

(I really don't mean to be picking on people, but it would be a shame for folks to think they are preventing hearing loss with these tips.)

entropy said:

Something about sliding in to heaven battered and torn, exclaiming "WOO-HOO, what a ride!"

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More like sitting in a cone of ringing/buzzing silence for 20 years while life, and it's essential qualities, pass you by to some extent even with frequent visits to your audiologist and an ample hearing aid budget.

Protect that hearing, peeps.

As another poster noted, about the best you can do is properly inserted foam plugs with the highest NR rating you can find (think around 33) and well fitting, high quality muffs that fit snugly... that extra 5 decibels of reduction from the over-the-ear muffs amounts to a significant reduction of 75% in the sound pressure level making it through your hearing protection.

I have gotten away with -30db inner ear plugs, but doubling up is definitely needed.

Necessary_Nutrient said:

More like sitting in a cone of ringing/buzzing silence for 20 years while life, and it's essential qualities, pass you by to some extent even with frequent visits to your audiologist and an ample hearing aid budget.

Protect that hearing, peeps.

As another poster noted, about the best you can do is properly inserted foam plugs with the highest NR rating you can find (think around 33) and well fitting, high quality muffs that fit snugly... that extra 5 decibels of reduction from the over-the-ear muffs amounts to a significant reduction of 75% in the sound pressure level making it through your hearing protection.

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I can't praise this post enough.....I've got severe hearing loss (77 yrs old now) from a lifetime of jet engines and shooting. Once it's gone, you're totally fooked. Do the due diligence guys, save yourself and your family & friends the loss of your participation in conversations et.al.....There's nothing macho/tough guy about being deaf as a post and you're not some sort of a "snowflake" for wearing the very best hearing protection available. Rod

Float Pilot said:

WHAT? Type louder !

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Darrrrn I thinnnnnkk I dammmmmaged mmmmmyyyyy kkkkeeeeyyyyybbbbboooorrrrrddddd!!!!!!

The best hearing protection I have ever had as a range master and match director for 45+ years was and is, the hard plugs with electronic high decibel cancelling inserts fitted into the plugs. I had those ear plugs made and fitted at the Shot Show years ago by the folks from Game Ear.

As a member of the board of directors of a national shooting orginization, I know for a fact that we commissioned multiple tests by the Safety Director for and of hearing protection with the exact same finding as the all the national organizations, that sanctioned national matches in the US or in the world, like the NRA, IHMSA, NMRA, etc all found that hard moulded plugs with decibel control electronics, fitted, did in fact offer the best sound protection for gun shot report level decibels as an impulse in sanctioned matches, on covered and otherwise firing lines. And that even a 22 LR's report in a 9" barrel does permanent damage to unprotected hearing, as does a live rock concert, when in attendance. Of course a low metal roof amplifies the effect of the muzzle blast.