Ears Tune out Gunshots?

[Parallax]

I've never fired a weapon without ear protection, but I'm sure it's quite loud enough to do serious hearing damage, especially indoors. My ears rang a little when I shot my G17 at an indoor range, even with the earmuffs on. However, I'm sure that's the last thing on your mind in a self-defense situation.

I've heard that in a high-adrenaline situation, your ears will automatically tune out loud noises such as gunshots, and you will not suffer any hearing damage. Is that true?

 

[PzGren]

Not so much the ears, the brain shuts the noise off. When a weapon is fired indoors in a high stress situation, the noise can go almost unnoticed. Later the shooter will wonder about the ringing in the ears.

 

[only1asterisk]

Damage is done regardless, but chances are you will barely notice under stress.

David

 

[birddog]

I can only speak from hunting experience, not self defense, but in high-adrenaline situations with a deer or bear at point blank range, I've barely notice the noise of a high powered rifle or revolver even without hearing protection.

As noted above though it's your brain not your ears shutting out the sound, and your ears may ring later and the sound will cause as much damage as it would any other time.

 

[c_yeager]

I've heard that in a high-adrenaline situation, your ears will automatically tune out loud noises such as gunshots, and you will not suffer any hearing damage. Is that true?

Your brain wont "notice" the sound so much. But the damage done to hearing is physiological and will not be in any way diminished.

 

[McCall911]

I have moderate hearing loss due to shooting without hearing protection. My ENT doctor affirms actual physical damage done to the internals of your ears from such foolishness. Anyway, I still have the tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and low-frequency hearing loss to serve as constant reminders of this very real damage and would never shoot without hearing protection, except in the obvious cases of necessity.

 

[fastbolt]

Yep, agree ...

I was always taught that while auditory exclusion can often occur in high-stress situations, especially in situations involving the 'fight-or-flight' response, the potential for physiological damage is still present.

Just like when tunnel vision occurs, and your visual focus and awareness narrows down ... the rest of the world is still there.

And, while 'temporal distortions' may seem to be occuring in the immediate vicinity, everyone is still moving at the same speed. Sorry, couldn't resist. Star Trek fan since day one.

 

[happy old sailor]

was shooting pistol at Camp Perry in the mid sixties when many people showed up, for example: there were five benches set up for one hundred shooters at each. each set of one hundred targets were controlled independantly of the others. in a rapid fire stage, i finished a second or so before others. wearing muffs, i then heard this tremendous roar as about another ninety nine .45s went off for their final round. i was quite surprised as i had not heard my own gun firing. so, something cut the sound, even wearing muffs, and gave me pause for thought. concentration i guess.

i now wear electronicaly controlled ear muffs that kill the sound and turn back on in time to hear the whooming echo of the sound retreating from me. i also wear them hunting as they amplify sound and do the cutoff thing.

an ENT doctor told me that EVERY shot i heard diminished my hearing, and it was permanent and no operation could restore it. even .22LR causes harm. i have since been real serious about ear protection.

 

[sturmruger]

I have to agree with what everyone else is saying. When shooting while hunting I have never noticed the sound of the shot. The brain excludes the sound since it is too busy trying to shoot the nice buck in my cross hairs. Many times my ears will ring later proving the my ears did not apreciate the punishment. I have been thinking about getting some of the earplugs they make for hunters.

 

[Mark13]

I once shot a 3.5" bbl +P 9mm outdoors with no hearing protection, and it really hurt. Just one shot.

I was watching a holocaust documentary on PBS today, and they interviewed a death camp SS guard. He said they would sometimes shoot out the lights in their barracks because they were too lazy to turn them off. Thats indoors, with no hearing protection. This doesn't really have to do with anything, it's just bizarre.

 

[DMF]

Auditory exclusion is the phenomenon we're talking about here.

There is a book called "Into the Kill Zone: A Cop's Eye View of Deadly Force" which has officers describing their experiences from thinking about getting into LE, to actual shootings they were involved in, and dealing with the aftermath of being in a shooting. While experiences vary greatly almost every single one mentions not hearing the shots.

 

[Ryder]

Things like carpet, curtains, and upholstery absorb a lot of the edge off indoor shooting. More of a dull boom than a snappy bang. Outdoors the ground absorbs the noise and it is traveling away from you with little to reflect it back. Indoor ranges are like echo chambers because they are made of hard materials and boxed in. Very very loud. You might as well be standing right in front of the muzzle.

 

[hso]

Even if you can't hear loud noises because of hearing loss damage is still done.

The only way to protect your hearing from damage from loud noises is to use plugs or muffs of a Noise Reduction Rating (NRR) equal to or greater than the noise you are exposed to. A typical gunshot is 140 to 170 decibels. But that's only for a moment, right? True, but it's the high noise levels that do the most damage and anything over 120 is considered high noise levels. Repeat that momentary high noise level say 100 or 200 times (a couple of boxes of ammo or 4) and you have a risk of a small permanent hearing loss. Repeat until permanently noticable.

What to do? If you use plugs with NRRs above 30 dBA and muffs with NRRs above 20 that still only drops the noise by 50 dB. Is this enough? Perhaps if you don't spend too much time at that noise level. Is that realistic? Only if you're on the range by yourself. You have to realize the other firearms add to the noise. I use foam plugs with an NRR of 33 and electronic muffs over them and don't shoot on the range if things are too busy.

 

[McCall911]

Auditory exclusion. Okay, so I guess I was off-topic with my comment about hearing damage. Anyway, I think auditory exclusion is a matter of the mind blotting out the sound of the gunshots rather than the gunshots having no effect on the ears, if that makes any sense. But still: I believe that there's going to be potential damage done to your ears whether you recall the sound of gunshots or not.

 

[JohnBT]

"If you use plugs with NRRs above 30 dBA and muffs with NRRs above 20 that still only drops the noise by 50 dB."

You cannot add the two numbers, it just doesn't work that way. The best info I've seen says that 30 plus 20 adds up to something around 33, give or take a little.

In addition, the ratings on muffs are for continuous sounds and not impulse sounds such as gunfire. That's what it said on the package my old Peltor Ultimate 10 muffs came in.

John

 

[Estela216]

I agree with Birddog. In hunting, you hardly notice the sound. However, what your brain does not recognize can still harm you. Take for example people that experience a "runner's high". Your body feels the rush of endorphines but you are still putting your body through a workout/stress to experience it. I can only assume the same is true with firing a sidearm in a stress situation. You will not hear it but the sound will still register in one way or another with your body.

kev

 

[Aguila Blanca]

I've heard that in a high-adrenaline situation, your ears will automatically tune out loud noises such as gunshots, and you will not suffer any hearing damage. Is that true?

No.

You misunderstood what you heard/read. The damage to the ears is physical and pretty much irreversable. The damage is at the ear, not in the mind. It cannot be "tuned out."

What happens in a combat situation is that the mind tunes out the audio stimuli to focus on the most immediate priority. The damage will still take place, but the shooter won't be aware of it until later.

 

[DMF]

Well on the issue of NRR, decibels and combining plugs and muffs, let's clear up some myths presented here by going to the experts:

http://www.entnet.org/healthinfo/hearing/noise_hearing.cfm

http://www.entnet.org/healthinfo/hearing/sound.cfm

"Decibels are measured logarithmically. This means that as decibel intensity increases by units of 10, each increase is 10 times the lower figure. Thus, 20 decibels is 10 times the intensity of 10 decibels, and 30 decibels is 100 times as intense as 10 decibels."

"Properly fitted earplugs or muffs reduce noise 15 to 30 dB. The better earplugs and muffs are approximately equal in sound reductions, although earplugs are better for low frequency noise and earmuffs for high frequency noise.

Simultaneous use of earplugs and muffs usually adds 10 to 15dB more protection than either used alone. Combined use should be considered when noise exceeds 105 dB."

As you can see even 1 decibel extra in NRR is very important, and the extra 10-15 from combining plugs and muffs is a huge gain in protection.

 

[Curare]

I could not imagine discharging an AR in an inclosed space. Even outside, the noice level is unbelievable.

 

[JohnBT]

Here's another opinion:

"The resulting noise reduction is not the total of the two devices combined. The total level of noise reduction provided is limited by the skull itself. Sound waves are all around us and the skull acts as a conductor of sound. The two cochlear, or nerves of hearing, are encased in bone in the skull. Therefore, sound can be conducted through the bone to the hearing nerve by vibration. Evidence suggests that the maximum probable protection is equivalent to 35-40 dB."

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Right, the damage to the unprotected ears is called 'mechanical damage' and it has nothing to do with what is or is not received by the brain. It pertains largely to tiny hairs within the ear that help transmit sound. Just because the brain does not perceive loud noises when a person is under high stress does not mean the person does not suffer hearing damage anymore than not feeling pain under high stress means that person was not wounded by the bullet that ripped through his body.

 

[DMF]

Well John, I'm not sure what your source is, but I'm pretty comfortable with the advice that comes from the experts. ENT=Ear, Nose, and Throat docs. Definitely can't hurt to have even 3 extra decibels of protection as you originally stated since 3 decibels is 30 times more noise energy reaching the ear.

 

[thorn726]

My ex lady sells hearing aids

she is an audiologist, makes big $$$. so i have been taught about some of these things

Not so much the ears, the brain shuts the noise off. When a weapon is fired indoors in a high stress situation, the noise can go almost unnoticed. Later the shooter will wonder about the ringing in the ears.

Believe that.

you cant stop the little drums and things in your ears form stopping vibrating, you can only shut off your brain.

DAMAGE WILL be done.

 

[Joey2]

I was in boot camp at Parris Island in 1963 and we were not required to wear hearing protection while on the range. There was a box of cotton balls for those who wanted them.

All through my military service, 26yrs (12 yrs. USMC and 14 yrs army) wearing hearing protection was not manditory and very few took advantage of the cotton balls available on all the ranges I fired on and the one I was the SNCO in charge of the line.

When I did go into combat the noise did not bother us because we were use to it with the exception of the lead comming our way.