Kids Hearing Protection Suggestions

For my daughter, I started with Pro Ears Passive. As she has grown up, I have bought her a set of the electronic Pro Ears. Regardless, the key issue is fit. Gaps or space around the muff defeat the sound protection. Db rating helps, but does not help if the fit is poor. The fit can be compromised by the way a weapon is mounted. Sorry - not more specific.

https://proears.com/

Don't forget eye protection. Personally, if you're talking about anything louder than a .22, he needs plugs AND muffs.

Get small sized plugs also. Guns are loud.

My oldest will be 7 this spring and we started shooting last spring. He is still only using my pellet gun, but we shoot at the local range so there is others shooting at times. I use a set of electric muffs for him that way he can hear me talk clearly, but still will cut out the back ground shooting. That seems to have to have been the best fit for us so far.

Like many folks on the board I have several sets of ear protection, from inexpensive to expensive, passive and electronic. I wanted to get my 7 seven year old son the best ear protection I could find so I dug around and came up with the Peltor X5 earmuffs. I have to say, I'm more impressed with the noise protection on these than I am with any of my others. I like them so much I bought a pair for me, my wife and my father.

Muffs aren’t enough for centerfires. Plugs and muffs. String plugs are nice, run them through the tag in the kid’s shirt or tie them around their shooting glasses. I have 4 pairs of child sized muffs, I’ll have to look to see what brand, I know they were about $35 each when I got them.

I was still a kid when I lost over 50% of my hearing in my left ear and developed tinnitus, only 12yrs old. A couple range trips with a 44mag and a 270win, and the damage was irreparable, so I get to live with that the rest of my life. My son, 4 now, wears plugs and muffs any time we’re shooting.

For kids of sufficient age, electronic muffs are great. The kids need to be old enough to understand the speakers are turned up too loud (hearing damage from your hearing protection!), but having better ability to hear instructions is a huge advantage. It goes hand in hand, by the time they are old enough to recognize when the volume is too high, they’re also typically old enough to follow instructions better and operate at the range more autonomously, so we end up getting outside of elbow reach (closer than arms’ reach), and audible commands are more important, so electronic muffs are a great safety device.

You also need to consider lead exposure if he's helping you in the reloading room. It takes much less lead to affect a young one.