avoiding ear damage with powerful rifles

[.38 Special]

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.

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.)

 

[Necessary_Nutrient]

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

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.

 

[Dr. Dingus]

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

 

[Rodfac]

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 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

 

[hso]

I've stated before that my 30 year career has been helping others protect themselves from occupational hazards. Hazardous noise is one of the major parts of that.

All joking or hollow bluster aside, if you're not doing everything you can to prevent hearing damage you are making a terrible mistake that can constantly haunt you for decades. You can pay for that mistake in quality of life as well as a lot of money.

Foam plugs worn under 30+dB muffs are a cheap way to help protect your hearing and far cheaper than hearing aids (and there's nothing practically available for tinnitus).

I've had the ringing of tinnitus for a decade. It wasn't a problem the first eight or nine years, but is now becoming annoying and if the trend continues it will become debilitating. Mine is not due to shooting, although in the '70s no one told me about muffs or plugs, but I do everything, including having purchased a suppressor to not contribute to my problem.

Buy the most effective hearing protection you can afford from a reliable manufacturer and use it properly.

 

[Picher]

WHAT? Type louder !

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