Anyone keep hearing protection by their HD gun?

Status
Not open for further replies.
S

Strakele

Member
Joined
Nov 10, 2007
Messages
154
Like the title says, do any of you keep hearing protection by your HD gun?

Before everyone freaks out on me about wasting time and not being able to hear what's going on, hear me out:

I'm talking about those electronic muffs that take all of half a second to put on as you grab your rifle/shotgun/pistol/flashlight and are supposed to amplify sound (good for hearing intruder's movements) to a certain level but then muffle noise at higher levels (good for your hearing, if indeed you have to fire). Just something I thought of the other day while contemplating how much it would suck to have to fire one of my guns, especially a rifle, indoors.

Whaddya think? Anyone do it? How are those electronic muffs anyway? Work as advertised?
 
I've thought about it.

Upside...
-Protect your hearing.

Downside...
-Obstruct your hearing, no matter how good the electronic muffs are.
-Something else to worry about in a super stressful situation.
-Possible difficulty with using a phone to talk with a 911 operator.
-Will not help your case in front of a jury. How did you have the peace of mind to put on muffs if you believed your life was in danger? Was your life really in danger? When you accidentally shot your child, were you able to hear if your child screamed anything beforehand? Can you explain this earmuff technology for the jury to understand?
 
Last edited:
jakemccoy listed some good examples why I don't have any near my HD gun(s).

Plus, I don't need to keep one near by since I don't plan on shooting intruders inside my home a regular part of my daily routine.
 
HK G3, Kind of Blued

You know, I do the same with my AR-15. :)

attachment.php
 
No.

If you need it, I doubt anybody is going to think about, much less spend the time to put on hearing protection. Up to you, I guess. It seems counterintuitive, but inside a furnished house gunshots are not as loud as in a range, for example. I think using a suppressed weapon makes more sense, if you don't mind the BATFE. But a few rounds to save your life is nothing to worry about, IMHO. I have fired plenty of .223, 7.62 and .357 in the woods as well as .45s, 22s and other calibers indoors. No problem unless you do it a lot. Honestly, I thought the 1911 sounded more like a .22 when fired in a furnished room. How many soldiers wear them in CQB? A range session is a whole different thing. You will be subjected to extended 130+DB and your life is not in danger. JMHO

Shooter429
 
If you are worried about your hearing more than your families life... You have issues.

Should be the last thing on my/your mind. It's completely understandable though... Don't take it the wrong way :)
 
I've thought about it too, but I think Grumpy guitarist said what I ultimately decided as well. Worrying about hearing loss during a life and death situation is like worrying about the walls paint job should you need to shoot an intruder in your home. Kinda silly to worry about when you consider what else is at stake.
 
I disagree with people saying your hearing isn't important. Being momentarily blind/deaf after engaging one intruder isn't exactly on the top of my list, hence the silencer. At the least, it makes it a LOT more like shooting a .22lr instead of a .223!
 
I have considered the idea but have excluded it from further consideration; I have read recently of a phenomenon called "auditory exclusion" that seems to indicate that under stress -fight or flight - that the hearing somehow shuts down? and individuals having fired in self defense situations with no hearing protection have reported no ill effects? I can't validate or prove..just its come up a few times recently in my various reading
 
No. If an attack was slow enough that I had time to put it on, it'd be slow enough that I'd want to listen for where an intruder is. And most amplified hearing protection does not give a sense of direction.
 
EHL: "Worrying about hearing loss during a life and death situation is like worrying about the walls paint job should you need to shoot an intruder in your home."

Yep.

And McCoy hit most of the points I would have.

I once fired a .44 Special +P round within the close confines of a small apartment room. My ears rang for a day or so, but I suffered no permanent loss of hearing, and I've been tested since.

I've had this discussion here before. One member, and a pretty respectable one, told me about how he keeps a set of earmuffs on his headboard. I don't even know where to start with that.
 
I do, but not because I plan to use it in the event I have to use my firearm.

My house has window units and a thin frame, so I hear when the neighbors sneeze inside their own house. I sleep with earplugs in half the time just to cut the ambient noise down.

jm
 
FWIW the auditory exclusion phenomenon short circuits (or filters out, which ever) both the extreme loudness and the pain that would come from a gunshot. So at that moment, in a high adrenalin, stressfull, life and death situation, you would not be phased (shocked if you will) nearly to the degree that you would if you just fired off a round in a range without hearing protection. You would presumable be able to function much better then.

However, hearing loss caused by loud noises is a physical thing. There are little hairs in your inner ear that vibrate. Very loud noise basically knocks them down like cornstalks in the wind...literally. The degree to which they stand back up...or not...amounts to the hearing loss one will experience.

So with auditory exclusion, you won't feel the pain right then but you will have, to some extent damaged your hearing.

So I am not advocating slapping on hearing protection in an HD situation, I wouldn't. But I wanted to comment on the limit of what auditory exclusion will do for you so that there is a more complete understanding.
 
i've fired my 12 guage without ear plugs in before, your really dont go deaf. Indoors it might be a little more impressive but im really not concerned about my hearing if i have to use my HD gun.

Combat troops dont wear hearing protection and they arent all deaf.
 
I don't wear hearing protection when I deer hunt. One or two shots, while hopped up on adrenaline, has never effected me. I don't generally even notice it.

On the range, however, I always wear hearing protection. I didn't so much when I was younger and my hearing is not so good now because of it.

I would think HD would be about the same as hunting. I doubt seriously that you'd notice the noise of the gun. Hopefully your minds attention will be more focused on the BG standing in your living room with a hole in his chest.
 
The reason you pick up a weapon in defense of your home and loved one is you make a choice of your priorities. If one of my children are threatened, I do not consider my hearing, the windows, the possibility of getting blood on the carpet or whether I'm going to disturb the neighbors. My only concern is the safety of my children.

This weekend I did a blood workup on a man that had been horribly burned in Iraq. While I tried to ignore the scarring on his face he must have noticed my distaste. He told me not to worry about it because he believed his country was worth the price he had paid. Loss of hearing would be a small price to pay to protect my children. The extra seconds required for hearing protection would be far too expensive.

Selena
 
jlg: "I doubt seriously that you'd notice the noise of the gun."

Oh, you definitely notice it.

But unlike at the range, at which on a couple of occasions I've shot without protection or been near a fired weapon without protection, it isn't so much a "bang!" so much as a high-pitched whine, followed by a shocking silence. For a second or two you can't hear anything, and you wonder whether your weapon failed to fire. Then your hearing and other senses gradually return to ordinary acuity, and you realize that, yes indeed, your weapon did fire and you have a Bonnie Situation on your hands.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

J
  • Locked
Hearing protection and HD
2 3
Replies
56
Views
2K
DBR
D
S
  • Locked
Hearing protection - Is there a Doctor in the house?
2
Replies
29
Views
3K
pastaman
P
hso
  • Locked
Hearing Protection
Replies
0
Views
770
hso
hso
S
  • Locked
Hearing protection guide
Replies
12
Views
2K
mondocomputerman
M
J
  • Locked
Hearing protection
Replies
4
Views
726
Bruce626
B
Back
Top