
The best, and most practical, way to protect them is, in my opinion, with commercially available hearing and eye protection. While some can be quite expensive, you don't need to spend a fortune to pick up a pair of adequate shooting glasses and hearing protectors. Various types of fairly inexpensive yet fully functional hearing and eye protection for shooters are available a gun shops, sporting goods stores, or online. I'll give you a rundown on some of the most common types of hearing protectors, and will also tell you something about shooting glasses that should point you right on target should you want to pick some up for yourself. Remember if you shoot, you should wear them whenever practical.
I'll start with hearing protectors and why we should use them. Basically there are two types available - those that fit over and fully around (not one or the other but they cover and fully encircle your ears, this is a must) your ears like ear muffs or headphones, and those that fit into your ear canal like ear plugs. All hearing protectors, as far as I am aware, are rated in terms of their NRR (Noise Reduction Rating). Noise levels, or the levels of pressure caused by noise, are rated in decibels, and in general the higher the decibels the louder the noise. The higher the decibels that are protected against, the higher the NRR, and the better the protection level that hearing protectors give to the shooter. Note that the idea is not to cancel out all noise, but rather to reduce harmful levels of noise from damaging your hearing. A typical gunshot from a defensive firearm, at arms length from you, can send about 150 to 180 decibels into your ears. It only takes about 85 decibels to be harmful to your ears and your hearing. Granted with a noise level of 85 decibels it takes about 8 hours of exposure to produce damage to your ears and hearing; however, noise levels as high as those of gunshots can instantaneously damage your hearing and ears. The higher the decibel level above 85 decibels, the less time needed to produce the damage. Typical gunshots come in somewhere between about 140 - 180 decibels. According to the NRA: "Gunshot decibel levels, measured by John S. Odess, M.D., ranged between 143.5 from a .22 short to 174.4 from a .458 Win. Mag (American Rifleman, "Hear No Evil," March, 1996)." (My source for this can be found at http://www.nrahq.org/youth/enews/enews_06_summer.pdf. A good illustration and description of the dangers of decibel levels can also be seen at: Dangerous Decibels. They have a couple of charts showing info about decibel levels, such as what levels are produced by what sounds, and how long it takes certain levels to harm your hearing.
So when shooting, or in close proximity to shooting such as a spectator, it is imperative if at all practical, that you wear hearing protection. Note I did not say if convenient but if at all practical! In a self defense situation, or in the case of a cop walking a beat, it would probably be very impractical, maybe even impossible, to stop and don on hearing protection without risk to your own life. Yet, anytime you are at the range, a firearms sporting event, afield shooting - even as someone just there to watch - you can and probably should wear hearing protection to avoid hearing loss. This includes while hunting even though you want to be able to hear game or other hunters/people approaching. (There are special headsets that allow you to listen to, even amplify, regular sounds, that will negate the effects of high decibel levels.)
As for the actual hearing protectors, as I said there are two basic types. There are those that are of an ear muff or headset design that fit over the ear, and there are those that fit into the ear canal such as ear plugs.


While it is my understanding that any hearing protector with a NRR of 20 or more is sufficient for firearms range or self defense situations, I suggest that if you decide on either type of the muff protectors, get the highest NRR you can find for the type you are purchasing. The ones I use now, a passive set, have a NRR of 29. The passive type usually have ratings between 20 and 30. I would not trust what hearing I have left to less than a NRR of 25, and as I said I prefer higher. Now don't ask me why, when using a hearing protector with a NRR of 30dB, you are protected from hearing loss and ear damage from sounds in decibel ranges of lets say 180dB since the decibels supposedly still getting through, by my figuring and I am no doctor or scientist, would seemingly be about 150dB. This is more than enough to cause damage instantaneously - and you would think that a protector with a NRR rating of 30dB would not work well enough to protect you from those high decibel levels, but yes they do work to protect your hearing, even ones with NRRs as low as the 20s supposedly will do so sufficiently. Go figure!
One other thing about muff type hearing protectors. They produce different results when worn differently. If you wear the head band over your head, as opposed to around the back of your head, as opposed to under your chin they protect you differently depending on how worn. Usually the highest level of protection, at least with muff type protectors I have used, is when they are worn over the top of the head, but make sure to follow manufacturers instructions and suggestions for the most protection.


Now here is a very important point. I just wrote that I wear ear plugs while also wearing in muff protectors in case the muff protectors become less effective. It is very important when wearing either type of hearing protector to make sure they are fitted properly. If they get knocked off or out of place a bit y shotgun or rifle recoil - ouch. Also, anything coming between the edge of a muff type protector and your head - thereby preventing a good seal - can allow too much sound to get to your ears. Even a small break in the seal can let in dangerous levels of sound. So if you wear eyeglasses, or just plain old safety glasses to protect your eyes, and you well should do so as I will soon explain, what to do? They make foam sheaths that cover the ear pieces of safety glasses or so I have heard, and these are supposed to allow for maintaining a good seal. As for me I have never seen them, to my knowledge, in over 40 years of shooting. They also make ear plugs, and you can use them as I said thereby decreasing the risk of a broken seal with muff protectors. Then why not, you may ask, just use ear plugs. Well they too can be fitted improperly, and even fall out. I would rather have one caught inside my ear muffs, than hit the ground, not to keep them clean (and they do need to be kept clean to avoid ear infection) but because it means I also had on muffs to protect my hearing. Another way to get over the seal problems is to buy ear muffs with a good flexible foam cushion seals or liquid filled seal cushions (this is the part that rings the opening of the muff and contacts your head around your ears). One other thing about muff protectors that I have heard but have not verified is that they offer superior protection to plugs alone because they help decrease sound transmitted into your ears that travels through the area of your head around the ear lobe. This because they cover that area. I don't know if it is true but I guess it sort of sounds sensible. As I said though, I prefer to use both at the same time.
The thing you want to do is to protect your ears as well as you can and each of the above types of hearing protection have advantages and disadvantages. You have to make your own choice as to which you prefer. As I said though, get ones with the highest NRR rating you can find for either type. For sports like hunting, or to be better able to hear range commands, you may want an electronic set. Whichever you use, always remember to wear them in accordance with manufacturers instructions, and always make sure to wear them when shooting or at a shooting event if at all practical. In addition, make sure others around you are wearing them, the hearing you save maybe your children's.
As for shooting/safety glasses, what can I say, we are talking about one of our most valuable organs and one of most used senses during waking hours. Protecting your eyes while shooting may not be inherent common sense, but once you know just a little something about firearms, about ammunition, about gunpowder, about bullets and fragmentation and about ricochets - eye protection is basically a no brainer. Yet, shooters often fail to wear eye protection while shooting, and if they do wear some sort of eye protection it is often not the proper type; I just understand why.


Now remember I said that there was something you could do to make up for having shooting glasses that do not have the top ridge of ewhich I wrote. The thing to do is to wear a brimmed cap of some sort while shooting or a spectator at such an event. The brim of a baseball type cap, or oither hats, will effectively keep an awful lot of particles from reaching your eyes from above. I think it best to still wear well designed shooting glasses with that ridge I described, but a hat like a rimmed basebball cap is a good thing to wear while shooting. They also keep the glare from the sun out of your eyes, and can make it easier to see in such instances of glare.
So why wear shooting glasses or goggles while shooting, or while a spectator to shooting? Just to protect those things that allow you to behold you children at play, your lovers smile, and a beautiful sunrise or sunset. Wear hearing protector so when your love whispers sweet nothing into your ears you hear them, when your child cries out for help you will hear that an be there in no time, and to hear the music of the birds as they sing their songs in the srping. You tell me if it is worth it to protect these wonderful senses, I think so.
All the best,
Glenn B
3 comments:
Great post Glenn! As a family that is gun familiar, I read this post as a critic...and really found it informative, personal, and right on!
Excellent!
Oh. I am on the kids computer so I am not logged on...Jennifer(penofjen)
Also check the caption winners!
Just as an FYI. The NRR value gives a good comparison basis, but it is important to look at the performance tables as well. Different protection devices perform differently at various volumes and frequency levels. Tipically, the highest protection is received from high volume low pitch noises. Meaning that if you have a firearm that produces 180 decibels, the noise reduction is likely to be greatly more than the NRR rating, and it is conceivable that a NRR 22 rated device will outperform a NRR 30 at that range. It is also important to note the standard deviation. If I remember my statistics correctly, 25% of the devices will be off by 1 SD, around 10% will be off by 2 SD's, around 2% by 3 SD's, and so on. So a small SD value in the range your working in is important.
Glen, I really hope that anyone who reads this article pay close attention to what your saying. I know for a fact how important it is to wear protective hearing equipment. I have lost over 60% of my hearing simply because, when I was young, no one told me about that. Again Great Writing!
Thanks!
Jim A
http://alturl.com/5diav
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