auditory occlusion

[knzn]

What I know about auditory occlusion I have learned by reading Massad Ayoob's "Ayoob Files" in the American Handgunner Magazine over the years.

For those of you who have never heard of auditory occlusion, it is when shots are fired under life and death stress situations, but you are not consciously aware of the noise of the gunshots as you would be under normal shooting situations. As I under stand it there is no pain or ever ear ringing after the shots are fired. Just as a side note it is not uncommon for those firing auto loading pistols to hear their brass landing on hard surfaces even though the actual shot was almost silent.

I was just wondering if anyone thinks that they have experienced this phenomenon in hunting situations.

As for me, I can not ever remember shooting at a deer and thinking that the shot was loud or had my ears ring afterward. Every once in a while I may be at a range and not have my ear protection in place when a shot is fired and all I can think about is how loud and painful it is.

Also I would never think of shooting clays without ear protection, but when bird hunting I never wear anything.

Just something to set around and think about on a cold winter off season day.

 

[bountyhunter]

First (to caution readers) the phenomenon of auditory exclusion (I thought was the term) is due to the fact that the brain is the final clearing house for all sounds. It has the ability to adjust the volume it perceives on specific sounds. In a life or death situation, you might not be aware of the sound of the gun, but the shock wave is still hitting the eardrum.

There is a protection mechanism in the ear (I am told) that when a deafening sound hits the drum, the muscles holding the three bones of the inner ear relax a bit to try to reduce the chance of the bones shattering. It's not foolproof, those bones are easily broken. The eardrum is also easily ruptured. The other main mechanism for hearing loss is the bending or breakage of the scilia (little hairs) in the ear and that is purely mechanical. No "focus effect" can protect them, it's strictly mechanical.

Bottom line, the "ringing" many of us suffer is due to an accumulation of effects. You might not hear it right away after the shooting encounter (or you might) but the complete lack of awareness of the muzzle blast does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to protect your hearing from the detrimantal effects of it.

 

[knzn]

bountyhunter:

Thanks for putting that disclaimer in for me. I should have done so, and didn't mean to imply that no damage was being done even if actually experiencing this phenomenon. I will also freely admit that at the age of 47 that I do have some hearing loss and am a life time shooter. Since there are a varity of reasons for me to have some hearing loss, (open cab tractors, wood working tools and various machinery) I would be foolish to deny that shooting is at least one of the suspects.

 

[Dave R]

Excellent point, Bounty Hunter.

Auditory Exclusion means the brain is not registering the sound. Does NOT mean the sound is not doing permanent damage to your hearing.

And to answer your question, yes, I think it happens during hunting. Like you, I wear protection for shooting clays and such. But I do not use it when hunting. Never notice muzzle blast. Or recoil, either, for that matter.

Probably should wear protection when hunting.

 

[critter]

I know two doofuses (doofi?), one of which must have experienced autitory exclustion (an extremely nice way to put it!)

D#1 was driving and had a semiauto 30-06. D#2 was riding 'shotgun' in passengers seat with a borrowed levergun in 30-30. Buck deer walks out in gravel road well ahead of our fine pair. D#1 slides to a stop, jumps out and begins to make war on said deer. D#2 does likewise. When the loud noises stop, D#1 is empty as is D#2. However, D#2 looks down and finds seven nice, new, shiny 30-30 rounds laying at his feet UNFIRED. Never noticed he was not firing, never noticed no noise, never noticed no recoil.

BTW, a very amused buck deer gets tired of watching the circus and wanders off in no great hurry at all.

 

[keyhole]

Hmmmm,, great Uncle Dude had a Colt Python, ( now mine), and shot a cat from the cab of his pickup one day. My boss was with him, ( both farmers ), and since the end of the barrel was still unside the cab,,,, well you figure what happened. After the ringing had subsided, Dude turned to Ted, and said( well that was a greenhorn trick wasn't it? ) No auditory exclusion there!

 

[meathammer]

I don't remember hearing the shot I made on a whitetail buck a few years ago.

What I do remember was seeing the bright muzzle flash visible in the scope. (7mm mag) Kinda neat. The sun was just starting to come up and the woods was still kind of dark.

I did go hog hunting a few years back with my .44 Redhawk. Made the mistake of not wearing hear protection. After all of the excitement, I realized my right ear was ringing. Badly. Strange my left ear wasn't at all. Anyhow, revolvers are VERY loud without plugs. Especially with hunting loads. I will wear earplugs next time for sure.

Live and learn!

 

[Kinsman]

I know two doofuses (doofi?)

That plus the rest of the post...made me laugh.

 

[Greybeard]

Well, I don't know if this is specific to your question or not, but I'll toss it out ...

No, I was not necessarily "hunting", but I was setting up a target for a "hunter skills trail" portion of a class on the edge of some heavy woods and got a good scare from a skunk one night. I had just turned on a 1000 watt floodlight when I heard some major rustling in the leaves. Then, out of the woods and up a slight incline, here comes Mr. Skunk straight at me - or possibly the flood light, I'm not sure because we were side by side.

Thereafter, things happened in such a fashion that I do not recall even taking my .357 snub out of the ankle holster. I do recall analyzing the background and taking a couple of steps off to one side so that I would be shooting more toward the woods than an adjacent road. The first round caught just enough of Mr. Skunk that he was kind enough to turn broadside for the second one.

Nupe, I can't say I recall the noise either (actually shooting 38+Ps), but the old "smeller" worked real good for a couple of days.

 

[Blue Jays]

Good Evening All-

Hearing can be damaged by many loud noises...gunfire is a no-brainer. I've often theorized that even given the mental protections of auditory exclusion, one must still suffer the physical harm as mentioned earlier.

I use earplugs with a noise reduction rating (NRR) of 30 decibels whenever participating in anything remotely harmful: mowing the lawn, riding a train, flying in airplanes, riding motorcycles, etc. When I'm shooting, I couple the earplugs with muff-type protection over top. Takes everything down by over 60 decibels...

Hope that helps,

~ Blue Jays ~

 

[Doc]

I'm no ENT (ear, nose & throat)
but my understanding of the processes of auditory exclusion and diminished
hearing while firing the shot while hunting are related but not the same
auditory exclusion is actually the byproduct of stress
during a situation of condition RED which becomes condition BLACK
not exactly what happens when we hunt, unless you mean for the game!

when we hunt, we don't (usuallly) percieve the gunshot from excitement.
however, the calmer we are when we hunt, the louder the shot will seem!
(think culling or pest control, compared to big game or trophy hunts)
some of the physiologic stress reaction is present when we hunt, but not to
the same extent as it is in a lethal force encounter

Physiologic stress (during a situation of condition BLACK)
causes a massive adrenaline dump (= epinephrine response)
this causes the so-called fight or flight reaction
(fight, flight, freeze, posture or submit according to the NRA)

during the stress response the Epi causes several important reactions
necessary to survival and fighting including:
increased pulse rate, narrowed pulse pressure, blood flow shunted from the skin & gut
to the large muscles and the kidneys, lungs & brain, diminished fine motor skills,
decreased saliva, tears and nasal mucous, et al

ALTERED PERCEPTION is a byproduct of the physical effects of the Epi reaction:

tunnel vision, auditory exclusion, hands shake, poor eye focus,

VISION: pupils dilate, ciliary muscles of the eye contract
& increased acuity in the fovea of the retina

HEARING: the muscles attached to eardrum tighten & eustation tubes open

in conjunction with this decreased sensory input, the cerebral cortex aggressively
filters extraneous and periferal information and discards it wholesale.
This necessitates our active searching and scanning with our eyes in an attempt ot overcome the brain's filtering and the eyes and ears decreased input.

it is this tightening which is what diminishes the preception of the gunshot
when we hunt, BUT this decreased perception is minor and fleeting during
hunting compared to the lethal force encounter

does that help?

 

[JohnKSa]

I'm pretty sure that auditory exclusion is primarily mental--and certain that it does little or nothing to protect hearing.

Case in point is a friend of mind who was present during an inside shooting when three shots were fired--two .38SPL, and one .357Mag. After the shooting she was informed that the smoke detector directly above her head was going off (from the smoke of the gunfire). She could hear the person talking but not the smoke detector--until it was brought to her attention. Clearly if there was some physical process she would have been unable to hear either.

She reports having noticeable hearing damage from this single incident inspite of experiencing auditory exclusion.

 

[Stevie-Ray]

Permanently damaged hearing has had me doubling up on the hearing protection for the last 10 years or so. Plugs with a 26 rating and muffs with a 29 probably give me somewhere close to a 40dB attenuation rating. Like to save what hearing I've got left. I pray to God I never have to discharge any firearm inside my house.