Plugs and Muffs weren't enough.

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Your ears started ringing just from dry firing a gun? What the heck kind of gun was it?
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Left ear only. It was a PA-63. It seems so stupid I almost wonder if it's coincidence and something else is going on.
 
I have had Tinnitus in my left ear for a couple of years now and I always wear ear protection. Unfortunately there isn’t much anyone can do for it. Not sure if it was shooting that caused it (been shooing for 10 years) or it was a result of other factors. Some days are worse than others and I have learnt to live with it. Sometimes it is worse after a trip to the range and other times it hasn’t made any difference. Some days it isn’t there at all. I’ve found that it gets worse when I’m under stress at work as well as when I’ve been subjected to aloud noise- but not always. I spent 5 hours last Saturday at a range with a bunch of guys from my club shooting black powder revolvers all day. The ‘boom’ from the guns is really loud especially on full loads but my left ear was fine afterwards – Tinnitus is a very weird thing.
 
Left ear only. It was a PA-63. It seems so stupid I almost wonder if it's coincidence and something else is going on.
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Definitely sounds like something else is going on. If it persists, you might want to get yourself checked out. Blood pressure, etc.

Here's some stuff about hearing.

The way you actually hear something is that ganglia (small hairs in your inner ear) vibrate from the result of moving air hitting them, transmitting a message to your brain. When the ganglion are assaulted by an extremely loud stimulus (e.g. crash, jet engine, gun shot), they get "pushed down" a little. They never "stand back up" to their full extension. People lose their hearing as they get older as a result of continued assaults upon the ganglion, pushing them down more and more each time. This results in hearing loss, the ganglion are no longer able to effectively transmit a given message. The loss of frequency (pitch) recognition can be segments of the full spectrum, all hertz between low and high.

Facts on noise levels:
1. Decibels measure sound pressure and are logarithmic. That means that only a 3db increase almost doubles sound pressure, a 6db increase quadruples sound pressure, etc.
2. Gradual hearing loss may occur after prolonged exposure to 90 decibels or above.
3. Exposure to 100 decibels for more than 15 minutes can cause hearing loss.
4. Exposure to 110 decibels for more than a minute can cause permanent hearing loss.
5. At 140 dBA noise causes immediate injury to almost any unprotected ear.
6. There is also the more extreme ‘acoustic trauma’, which is an immediate loss of hearing after a sudden, exceptionally loud noise such as an explosion.

Comparative noise levels and length of time exposed to cause permanent damage
Jet engine taking off 140 dB Instant damage
Thunder/Ambulance siren 119 dB 3 minutes
Hammer drill 113 dB 15 minutes
Chain saw/Earphones/Concert 110 dB 30 minutes
Bull Dozer 105 dB 1 hour
Tractor/Power tools 96 dB 4 hour
Hairdryer/lawnmower 90 dB 8 hours


Noise levels of firearms:
.22 caliber rifle 130dB
.223, 55GR. Commercial load 18" barrel 155.5dB
.243 in 22" barrel 155.9dB
.30-30 in 20" barrel 156.0dB.
7mm Magnum in 20" barrel 157.5dB.
.308 in 24" barrel 156.2dB.
.30-06 in 24" barrel 158.5dB. In 18" barrel 163.2dB.
.375 18" barrel with muzzle brake 170 dB.
.410 Bore 28" barrel 150dB. 26" barrel 150.25dB. 18" barrel 156.30dB.
20 Gauge 28" barrel 152.50dB. 22" barrel 154.75dB.
12 Gauge 28" barrel 151.50dB. 26" barrel 156.10dB. 18" barrel 161.50dB.
.25 ACP 155.0 dB.
.32 LONG 152.4 dB.
.32 ACP 153.5 dB.
.380 157.7 dB.
9mm 159.8 dB.
.38 S&W 153.5 dB.
.38 Spl 156.3 dB.
.357 Magnum 164.3 dB.
.41 Magnum 163.2 dB.
.44 Spl 155.9 dB.
.45 ACP 157.0 dB.
.45 COLT 154.7 dB.

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.

Using muffs and plugs together: Take the higher of the two and add 5 dB. 30 plug with 20 muff gives an effective NRR of 35.

If you are shooting by yourself, with plugs and muffs on, you get to shoot up to a thousand rounds without damage (louder ammo/gun and the allowable drops by a factor of 5). Shoot with other people and you have to add all the rounds shot cumulatively (10 people shoot 100 rounds and everybody's done for the day; toss a handcannon or 30 cal rifle in and you're back down to 200 rounds cumulative). If you shoot on an indoor range then all the rounds fired while you are on the range go into your total. So you can see that it doesn't take very long on a range to have a thousand rounds popped off around you.

Don't forget about bone conduction of concusive sound waves. The mastoid bone will transmit the sound vibrations directly to your inner ear where the cochela and the hearing nerves resides. Constant exposure to this kind of concusive sound wave, (e.g. 50 BMG, industrial heavy machinery) will result in the degradation of your hearing quality. Even with ear muffs, bone conduction is a big factor in hearing.
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Dry firing a medium caliber handgun is definitely not on the list.
 
Electronic muffs turned off?? What's the point?

Silicone ear plug so deep you need pliers to get it out? That's not a good fit. You need to get some real ear plugs made for noise reduction. They are usually made of foam and carry a NRR rating of 29, 32, or 33. You have to form them between your fingers to get them into your ear. Silicone plugs are typically made for swimming and don't work well for noise reduction.

FWIW, I wouldn't go in an indoor range where they were firing a .50. Nuts!

So you're using electronic muffs turned off and the wrong plugs that don't fit. There you go.
 
Supposedly muffs deteriorate with age. A brand new pair will reduce noise better than the same set after several years of aging. I have an old pair laying around that can attest to that.

And not all earplugs are created equal. They only reduce the incoming decibels by a certain percent and it varies widely. Some of those are definately not recommended for shooting. In fact I wonder what some of them are recommended for at all.
 
My ears are pretty bad as well, especially my right ear: When I was younger, I would just put one of those cheapo orange plugs into my left ear, and call it good (as my right was tucked into the stock and didn't seem to bother me). :rolleyes:
 
As others have said there are MANY different causes of Tinnitus.

For example I have allergy induced tinnitus that comes and goes with my allergies. Say my nose and head is getting stuffed up really bad in the spring and ill have really bad tinnitus with it, to the point I can barely sleep at night sometimes because of the ringing. But when my allergies calm down and my head clears up so does the tinnitus for the most part. Right now I can only hear my tinnitus when im in a perfectly quiet room.

My point is make sure there is not another underlying factor triggering your tinnitus.
 
Some of those ear plugs are called disposable.They are made to be used one time.If you remove a plug to talk or for whatever it's performance is compromised and should be replaced by a new one.
 
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