Electronic Hearing Protection

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MaterDei

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***ALERT*** I'm trying to justify the potential purchase of a $300 set of ear muffs. If you have information that might change my mind, stay away!! :D

Seriously, I'm thinking that in addition to range use, electronic hearing protection could be a valuable tool when investigating a 'bump in the night '. In addition to providing protection from ear damage caused by an indoor shot, the ear muffs volume could be cranked up to actually give you a tactical advantage.

Anybody incorporate these into their HD plan or are they just range tools? Also, any brand/model suggestions would be helpful. I've done a search and people seem to really like the Peltor products. Any others? Thanks in advance.

http://www.earinc.com/p1-muffs.php
 
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I've messed with all the generally available electronic muff types (running state championship-level matches allows exposure to lots of cool gear...and people's opinions of same...plus, it is fun ;) )...I'm quite fond of the Peltor Tac-6. The Tac-7 is slightly more powerful, but is heavier and too bulky for long gun work (with my fat head involved, of course, actual results may vary).

Jerry's Sport Center has a sale on Tac-6 right now...$89.95...




Alex
 
I keep my Tac6's sitting on the desk in my room where I keep my serious pistols. If I have enough time, I plan to use them.

Kharn
 
For the last couple of years, we have kept a second pair of Peltor ComTacs next to the shotgun. They work great for investigating bumps in the night. There is also eye protection, plugs, flashlights, cell phone.

I found with my kids that I could stand at their bedroom door, turn up the volume on the muffs, and be able to hear them breathing their tiny little breaths from several feet away. I have also been surprised when doing this by the sound of an advancing aggressor, the footfalls of one of my cats who apparently was stalking an untied shoe lace.

There are additional oddities with being able to hear more than you usually do. If you touch the wall will going down the hall, the normal soft gentle scraping sound comes out like you are dragging a screwdriver against the wall, gouging it as you go.

I have played a cool game with my cats at night. With the lights off, I go room to room to see if I can locate each one (2 and they don't stay together). While I can't see in the dark, the muffs provide something of a sonar picture of the room. Changing your auditory view of the room will change the auditory picture you can form in your mind, especially if you have some idea of what is already there. For example, soft objects tend to reflect much less sound than hard objects. So a cat napping on the couch is effectively in a sound dampened zone, but a cat in the corner next to a wall has not only the sound of the cat's breathing projected, but also the sound bouncing off the wall.

You can walk down the hall and when you pass an open door, the ambient sound will change and so you can tell the door is open without being able to see it.

Cool stuff. You can learn the noises of your home and also determine what is and is not usual, even if you don't know what they are. Also, the blower for the AC/Heat will dampen transmission of noise as the blower generates white noise that will hide some sounds.

Sadly, I will be gainfully employed soon and spare time doing these little tests will be all but gone...
 
Thanks to all.

Double Naught Spy, sorry especially to you with a job on the way. :( Your thread was exactly what I was looking for. That is very cool and I exactly what I'm looking to use the muffs for.

Keep them coming...

MaterDei
 
I've got a pair of Peltor Tactical 7 Surrounds. They work well, although they are a little bulkier than I would like. Obviously, with pistols, they are perfectly fine. However, with rifles and shotguns I will occasionally break the seal on the right-side (I'm a right-handed shooter). This is typically when shooting from a low-gun position and raising it up quite rapidly (as in when hunting or shooting sporting clays). When shooting trap, I can carefully bring the shotgun into position and it's not a problem at all.

As far as their use... it's a bit of a mixed bag. At the range, they are great. In a situation with relatively little (or at least soft) background noise, they work extremely well. DNS's examples of listening in the house are right on the money. When I'm sitting around listening for deer on Opening Day in a couple weeks, you can bet I'll be wearing them.

If you are hunting or moving in a noisy environment, I find them disconcerting and less effective than a plain set of plugs. For example, I have used them while pheasant hunting on several occasions. If I'm moving through much cover, the noise from my movement (hunting pants scraping and crashing through brush) causes the speakers to clip out almost contstantly.

One thing I highly recommend is that you get a pair with true stereo sound -- meaning seperate mic pickups. That way, you will be able to distinguish direction far better.

BTW, IIRC my Peltor's were about $160 from a web-site that offers industrial hearing protection.
 
In addition to all of the above, I found that I kept my balance better while wearing active muffs. Well worth the money.
 
You can get ComTacs for $200-$209 if you look.

Hey, the Com Tacs now come in black as well as the original OD green.

http://store.yahoo.com/botach/pelcomtac.html $210

http://www.shootersoasis.com/Hearing_Protection.htm $200 This is where I purchased mine. The information on the site is wrong. The show ComTac NRR at 19 db and it is 25 db. Don't let this worry you. The muffs they send will be the proper NRR

http://www.tjgeneralstore.com/ear_eye_protection.htm $210

http://www.leadersafety.com/show_mfg.php?mfg=Peltor $255

http://search.cartserver.com/search...002&category=All&keywords_1=*&keywords=comtac $238

FYI, I wear plugs with my Comtacs and just turn the volume up for range time. The high internal volume compensates for the plugs so that you can have normal conversations and still get very good auditory protection.

The best (non-electronic) muffs on the market are Leightning with an NRR of 31 db. I am told there are some rated at 32 or 34, but I haven't seen them. The Leightning are good enough to make normal conversation difficult, and impossible if plugs worn at the same time. The Comtacs have NRR of 25. That is pretty good, but not excellent. Part of the problem is the small size of the muffs, but they are still better than most everything else out there that are electronic. Also, the circuitry gives the muffs a longer use life than regular muffs. Plus, the have an auto-off function. If quiet for 30 minutes, they turn off. In my case, this has not saved me. I left my muffs on after Thunder Ranch and they were still on when I got back to home many hours later. Basically, with all that went on and then the road noise and music, things were never quiet enough long enough for the auto-shutfoff to engage.

One potential bad problem for the ComTacs is that they do not have separate left and right volume adjustment. So if your hearing is worse in one ear than the other, you can't compensate. This does not apply to me, but may be a consideration to think about.

I have not tried these myself, but from a review...For individual controls, but not folding up, these are cheaper priced but potentially better - Walker brand Quad muffs. They have 4 microphones to give you between surround sound capapbility (more ability to distinguish fore and aft sound from one another). It has separate L & R volume control and is supposed to have adjustments for frequency. So ideally, you could set the muffs to hear certain frequencies (I assume at the expense of not hearing others). Botach has them for $150. See http://store.yahoo.com/botach/wapoea.html
 
Do note that the Tactical 6 have an NRR of just 19. That only sounds like 6 less than 25, but each 3 db is a doubling of sound pressure as the scale is log. So with a rifle and indoors, such as for a HD situation, 19 is definitely better than no muffs, but still may not be sufficient to prevent hearing damage. Depending on the gun, 25 may not either, but the higher the NRR, the better off you are for protecting your hearing.
 
I tried a pair of Radians at a local gun shop

The guy waiting on me actually cut open a package to try

One side didn't work:(

I realize that one set is a statistically insignificant sample

But I was not reassured enough to buy a pair
 
Pro Ears Dimension series

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Pro Ears models yet.

They are what I've decided to get, so was hoping to see some good reviews in this thread.

I haven't received them yet (purchased from Impact Guns). I'll let everyone know how they work after I get them.

I got the big ones... these will be for range use only. If they actually work well, I will probably have to get a pair specifically for shotgun use; the big ones do not like rifle stocks.

check them out here: Pro Ears Dimension
 
I noticed that they (the Tactical 6) were only rated at 19, and many others were higher. I just orderd them primarily for range use, but possibly next to the bed also.

For the range I think I try the plugs + muffs with the volume turned up, and see how that works out (I wear plugs + muffs now anyway). For home, I think I'd just throw them on, and be more prepared than having nothing...

we will see when they get here. :)
 
Just got the tactical 7s from Midway - work well, stereo mics are nice . . . .

they will clamp down on sounds immediately which can be disconcerting while you are moving around so they may not be what you want for cacthing the bad guys but I don't know how they would be effective if they didn't do that at the range.

24db rated . . .

$170 on Midway.
 
take a look at the peltor 6s with the behind the head band. That band makes it much easier to wear most headgear. I like a floopy bush hat during the scorching texas summers, so I can use my muffs without interfering with the brim of the hat. With few exceptions, everyone I know wishes they had the BTH muffs.
 
Oleg recommended I avoid the headband model - lots of opinions out there, I think I'll have to try them on for myself at the SWAT show next year!
 
Like others here, I got the Peltor Tac 6 ears with the behind-the-head band because I thought they would be more comforable in the heat. I had two initial problems with these ears. (1) Even though the headphones did not seem to move around much on my ears the unit felt less secure on my head then did over-the-head banded units. (2) The distance that the band sticks below the headphones can be varied somewhat but even at its shortest extension the bottom of the band (the part near my neck) easily hit my collar and could touch my shoulders if I looked up.

One way I resolved this was to wear the unit upside down. This puts the band against the middle/back of my head. This setup changes the relative position of the mikes and puts the Peltor name upside down. The mikes still face forward and are only 3 inches different in position so this is probably not an issue. The upside down wording bugged me more. [Style is so important on the shooting range after all. ] I resolved this by unclipping the band from the earphones and reattaching them upside down. This puts the headphones in the originally designed position but the band is again against the middle/back of my head. This arrangement allows me to wear baseball caps and knit watch caps. It will not allow wearing full, brimmed hats but the original setup would allow this very well either.

An added benifit of this arraganment of me is that having the band against the back of my skull makes the unit feel more secure on my head.


GB
 
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