Hearing protection and HD

[JellyJar]

One thing that many people do not give either enough thought to or no thought at all is the damage that can be done to your hearing should you have to fire any firearm inside their house. However bad it is to shoot a particular gun ammo combination outside must be much much worse when shot indoors. And remember that hearing loss is permanent. Once lost it is gone forever!

Using ordinary hearing protection, as pointed out in an earlier thread, may not be such a good idea because you may have to communicate with other family members and/or the police.

The solution is to get one of the active electronic hearing muffs that attenuates loud noises but can at the same time amplify soft noises. This way you can not only hear the quiet noises made by intruders in your house that you would not ordinarily hear but they will protect your hearing at the same time from the very loud discharges made by most firearms.

I have a pair of Wolf Ears that I keep on the dresser in which I keep my Glock just in case.

 

[John Parker]

...or the solution is to worry about the immediate threat and not worry about your hearing.

 

[cleardiddion]

I think this has come up before.

Most people it seemed like, myself included, decided that a small bit of hearing loss would be worth the advantage of being able to hear everything without any doodads and whatnot.

I guess the situation would be different if there was a rolling gunfight every night but I till then I'll just stick with the original opinion.

 

[okespe04]

Aim, identify, open your mouth, breath, squeeze the trigger, repeat as many time as necessary, get a lawyer.

 

[Lonestar49]

...

Use sub-sonic, heavier, JHP's in any flavor: 45, 40, or 9mm, and the sound will be far less than shooting faster sonic - super ammo.

After all, we're talking close range within one's home..


Ls

 

[LibShooter]

There's nothing wrong with planning for ear protection in a HD situation, but if you have the presence of mind to don your muffs in the heat of battle, you're a better man than I. I'll be lucky to remember which end of the rifle to point at the bad guy.

The closest thing I ever experienced to a REAL HD situation came when I was 13 years old. My phone rang in the middle of the night. The 14 year old girl next door, home with her mother and little sister, said they heard someone break into their garage. I woke my dad and he was over there in seconds. He had his M1 Carbine, w/ 30 rounds of Soft Point. However, he had no shirt, no shoes, just his tighty-whities. He also hadn't thought to tell his numbskull son to stay put. I was right behind him. He never knew I as there until it was all over.

We got there and found no bad guys, but there was evidence of a break-in. I guess the sight of a heavily armed, half-naked old man scared him away. Dad didn't really notice his state of dress until he heard the sirens coming. Then he fled to dress.

I'm thinking if you'll forget your pants, you might forget your hearing protection. Another sign of adrenalin poisoning: The girl next door wasn't wearing much, either and I didn't notice until those same darn sirens.

 

[smithmax]

I don't think it's an issue of "forgetting" your pants, it's more of a time issue. Do you want to spend time putting pants on, or do you want to secure your family?

 

[chevyforlife21]

erase the thought of gettin hearin protection that could get u killed

 

[eye5600]

erase the thought of gettin hearin protection that could get u killed

Being unable to hear after the first shotgun blast could cost you your life. I think this one could go either way.

 

[chevyforlife21]

thats true eye i agree but its better then not being able to hear him walking around the corner before u take that first shot

 

[mustang_steve]

I say forgo the hearing protection. At the least you'll hear enough to start the defense.

 

[EHL]

The solution is to get one of the active electronic hearing muffs that attenuates loud noises but can at the same time amplify soft noises.

This is a solution in search of a problem. Nobody ever "plans" on being burglarized or intruded on. We only can plan enough to give us a fair chance of surviving and protecting those dear to us. Are you going to calmly put on shooting ear muffs while the guy is already in your house doing who knows what?! If you are that confident in your abilities to "take down the bad guy" every time and have a happily ever after like it was some cheesy Chuck Norris movie, then my hat goes off to you sir. My only thing I'd remind you about if you are going to use hearing protection is: don't forget your shooting glasses.

 

[Mike J]

If my home is burglarized while I am in it wearing hearing & eye protection is going to be at the bottom of my priority list. I'm not saying you shouldn't plan however you like but I'm not worrying about it. Truth be told after 20 years in construction I have used powder actuated tools so many times without hearing protection I don't think it even matters anymore. They are better about supplying us hearing protection, eye protection & everything else now. Insurance rates have caused a lot of changes.

 

[PandaBearBG]

Forget the hearing protection, your burglar could be sneaking around and you'd want to hear him right? Besides I don't think you are going to get into an extensive firefight, a round or 6 going off or even a shotgun blast is about all it would take to de-escalate the threat (I hope) and I'm pretty sure you will be just fine. I've shot 81mm mortars with extended live fires for HOURS at a time, which is much louder than a handgun, and I lost my hearing protection early on. (The concussions literally rocked them outta my ears) and my head was only ringing for a few days. Wear them if you want to, your home your own choice, either with or without, you'll will be fine.

 

[mljdeckard]

The muffs might well be a good thing to have, but if for any reason it just wasn't practical to have them, I wouldn't delay the plan for them.

When I was young and stupider, I fired guns indoors, without hearing protection, to include heavy revolvers. I did not go instantly deaf. If I have permanent damage, it's minimal, and many other events contributing to it. But loudness is a factor in choosing my HD guns. Heavy revolvers are pretty much the loudest guns you can hold. My primary HD guns, my 870 loaded with #4, my M-1 carbine, and my 1911 are all significantly less loud than a .357 or .44 revolver.

 

[HKUSP45C]

Suppressor?

For ~1000 USD and a few pesky bits of paperwork you too (provided your state allows it) can fire a handgun (or rifle) in your home with vastly decreased chance of permanent hearing loss.

Problem? No problem.

 

[SharpsDressedMan]

I'm almost 57, and am considering having some electronic hearing protection next to the bed, along with the other "response" stuff. I would at least have the option, given time, to don the equipment. If time doesn't permit to gear up, then we go with whatever. I agree with the subsonic argument, and recently saw an ad from FN that made me shudder. It advocated an FN 5.7 in the hand of a woman, for home defense, probably because the 5.7 doesn not recoil much. I would not want to be cornering the halls inside my house with a 5.7, and I don't think it is nice to propose that to women who might not be fully informed, to be using a 5.7 for defense inside a house, for exactly the points brought up in this thread. Anyone else see that ad (p27, Guns & Ammo-Oct)?

 

[SharpsDressedMan]

Regarding suppressors, we are lucky here in Ohio to be able to buy suppressors without much hassle. I obtained the PERFECT tactical suppressor, used, and formerly a demo for a dealer from AAC. It is called the Scorpion, and doesn't fully suppress, but takes enough of a bite from a 9mm to be used without hearing protection. Barrel for my Browning, suppressor, and tax stamp were had for under $750.

[/IMG]

 

[JellyJar]

Thanks for your replies.

I have learned many things in my life, one of which is ......

"There are no perfect solutions"

I am quite aware of the fact that you will not always have the time to don hearing protection should your house be invaded while you are there. Also I am aware of many occasions where the occupants of a house did not even have the time to access their defensive weapons. On one such occasion the wife was an active duty police officer So to argue that you should never use hearing protection just because it may take a few extra seconds to access is a non starter!. You go with the flow and handle the situation as best as possible. If you have prepared your dwelling properly it should in most cases slow the invasion down sufficiently so you can do what you have to do.

Remember that self defense is more than just owning a weapon or two. Weapons are just one of the spectrum of devices ( like good locks, doors, and alarms), mind set and tactics that are needed to stay alive in our sometimes violent world. Weapons by themselves are usually useless.

Also it seems to me that some have missed an important point about hearing protection. They seem to think that all hearing protection will make it difficult or impossible to hear family or police. Don't use passive hearing protection if at all possible. There many makes and models of active electronic hearing muffs that will at least allow normal sounds to pass through wile attenuating very loud noises and most of them will also amplify soft noises at the same time. Wouldn't it be great to be able to hear the breathing of a burglar should you have to check your house at night after becoming aware that someone may have broken in while you were asleep?

Stay safe all

 

[chestnut ridge]

You will not hear the muzzle blast. You will not feel the recoil.

 

[9mm+]

Nice photo of the BHP!!

 

[hso]

As Jellyjar said, the situation on any given day may or may not permit you the time to use hearing protection, but that doesn't mean that you discard the option. If you have the time to get the shotgun after you grab your handgun no one's going to tell you should not have even had a shotgun around because you might not have time to transition to it. Just don't make it higher priority than protecting yourself from getting shot.

After getting the family safely assembled in a defensive position no one recommends hunting through your house for bumps in the night. Hole up, listen, pretend to have some patience and make any threat come to you in your prepared position.

The OP pointed out that he was interested in active hearing protection. This is the type that you can actually turn the volume up to make those night noises easier to hear, so the arguments that you won't hear the BG coming don't apply.

If your ears ring for more than a day some portion of your hearing has been destroyed. It may not be perceptible, but each time you experience this you chip away another bit of your ability to hear. Don't like the sound of that? Ignore the advice to wear hearing protection often enough and the constant ringing can remind you to protect what hearing you have left.

 

[conw]

There many makes and models of active electronic hearing muffs that will at least allow normal sounds to pass through wile attenuating very loud noises and most of them will also amplify soft noises at the same time. Wouldn't it be great to be able to hear the breathing of a burglar should you have to check your house at night after becoming aware that someone may have broken in while you were asleep?

Sure, but it's one more thing to fuss with, turn on, etc...batteries could be low, it could malfunction...

No thanks.

 

[JohnKSa]

You will not hear the muzzle blast. You will not feel the recoil.

That was correct in my case. But it didn't stop me from suffering very noticeable hearing loss from just one shot.

I have electronic hearing protection handy but I would NEVER consider putting it on unless it was obvious that I had time to do so. Obviously you don't waste time putting on hearing protection if there is an immediate threat.

Why would I recommend it?

It not only prevents hearing damage but it also prevents temporary hearing loss. After my shot I was essentially completely deaf for a couple of minutes--I couldn't hear someone screaming at me from feet away. After a few minutes my hearing came back partially but I was still severely impaired for some hours. Then it improved over the next few days to the current state which is noticeably worse than before the incident. Had I needed my hearing immediately after the shot there is no way I could have heard anything.

Good quality electronic hearing protection provides you with better than normal hearing that is still directional--you can still tell where it's coming from. That can be a huge advantage, particularly in low light.

 

[flrfh213]

i have carpet to deaden the blast and soak up the blood, i have a 357 and a walther p-22 w/laser. i will most likley go for the walther w/laser first, but i carry the 357 as ccw till bed...