Threshhold for hearing protection

[oldbear]

Wow - You guys would die if you knew the things I do. I shoot .22LR (and in most cases, much larger rounds) without hearing protection, turn the radio up to 100 anytime i'm in the car and whenever I go to a concert I stand right in front of the speaker stack for the best sound. I'll be deaf by the time i'm 30!

Add to your list ridding off road motorcycles, playing with race cars, driving at highway speeds with windows down, and shooting big bore handguns, all without hearing protection and that was me until I was 40 years old. At 61 I now have some serious hearing loss and believe me IT IS NOT FUN to miss much of what is being said. My family and friends are very understand of this, but at times I know they get tired of having to repeat themselves.

 

[bigfatdave]

I had another thought on this subject while I was shoving plugs in my head at work.

The human ear evolved to last maybe 50 years in a much quieter environment. Your ears aren't built ("designed" if you like) to handle; motorcycles, gunfire, loud machinery, jet engines, etc etc. They are set up to be good hunter/gatherer ears until you die of old age around 50, or at least until you've spawned as many offspring as possible.
So, much like women have to be concerned about bone loss as they age past evolution's threshold (after the age we pass on genes, results are not improved over time because there is little mechanism for passing along traits after the reproductive period in our lifespan) we should all consider that we're planning on taking our ears well past their warranty period and treat them like the precious resource they are.

 

[coloradokevin]

Honestly, I'm a strong proponent of hearing protection, and I'm one of the few people I know who will also wear hearing protection when hunting. But, I usually don't sweat the hearing protection too much with the .22lr in RIFLES (.22lr pistols are loud).

Don't get me wrong, I usually throw the ear plugs in while plinking, even with the .22's, but I have to admit that I've heard my share of these rifles without hearing protection in the past. Simply put, I don't believe the .22 rifles are all that loud when compared to other things we hear in our lives (fireworks displays? Road noise? Sirens on emergency vechicles? power tools?). We'd probably be well served to wear hearing protection for a lot of our activities in life, if the preservation of hearing is desired.

 

[RhinoDefense]

.22 rimfire rifles have a sound signature of 130-140dB depending on environmentals, ammunition, and barrel length. A .22 pistol with 4 inch barrel will have a sound signature of the low to mid 150dB range.

The 140dB isn't a magic number really, as prolonged exposure of less than 140dB sound pressure will still damage hearing, it will just take longer to do. Just because you aren't getting ringing ears doesn't mean damage isn't occurring.

 

[jnyork]

I shoot every week with a group of about 30-35 guys all of whom are over 65 and some over 80. EVERY ONE OF THEM has some hearing problems and a couple are deaf as a stone, all due to not using hearing protection in their younger days in both their professions and their hobbies.

I once met a guy at the range who scoffed at the idea of wearing plugs or muffs for "just a .22". I made some comment, to which he replied "Huh?"

 

[MileHighMan]

There is much more to damaging your hearing than degrees of deafness.

Tinnitus (pronounced /tɪˈnaɪtəs/ or /ˈtɪnɪtəs/,[1] from the Latin word tinnītus meaning "ringing"[2]) is the perception of sound within the human ear in the absence of corresponding external sound.

Tinnitus is not a disease, but a symptom resulting from a range of underlying causes that can include: ear infections, foreign objects or wax in the ear, nose allergies that prevent (or induce) fluid drain and cause wax build-up. Tinnitus can also be caused by natural hearing impairment (as in aging), as a side effect of some medications, and as a side effect of genetic (congenital) hearing loss. However, the most common cause for tinnitus is noise-induced hearing loss.

The "one time" you don't use ear protection is more likely to cause damage than the "one time" you don't put on your safety glasses. Your ears, like your knees, lower back and teeth have to last a lifetime.

 

[carnaby]

The only thing I shoot without plugs/muffs is low velocity subsonic .22 shorts. And then, only out of a rifle or with a silencer. I've had tinnitus for years, from loud music and not shooting, and I protect what I've got left.

 

[CraigC]

driving at highway speeds with windows down

Folks don't realize that wind noise can damage your hearing. I realized this after I started riding motorcycles. Always wearing a skull cap, my ears hurt after a long ride and before long, I determined that I indeed had some hearing loss as a result. Folks like to make jokes about wearing ear plugs while riding a Harley but it ain't because of the pipes, it's because of the wind noise.

Simply put, I don't believe the .22 rifles are all that loud when compared to other things we hear in our lives

You will eventually pay for it. Trust me, it ain't worth it, put your muffs on!!!

 

[Tom609]

jcwit, I know exactly what you mean. I have non-shooting related hearing loss and wear bilateral aids too. They are expensive. Some people think it's just a problem that can be corrected by turning up the volume, but it's much more than that. I can no longer tell which direction sounds come from. TV shows with lots of background music make it impossible to hear the dialog. I find myself using the closed captioning more lately. Some people are easy to hear, and others I have to ask to repeat what they said - it's frequency of sound more than volume. I have to sleep with the TV on because dead silence makes the tinnitus too "loud." I also notice a slight affect to my balance. I could go on, but I think you get the idea. All I can say is, wear the friggin ear protection!

 

[dmazur]

I learned about hearing loss at work, as part of administering our hearing conservation program.

Yep, 85dB is the threshold, for a TWA of 8hrs. As we have no way of measuring that easily at our workplace, I just require hearing protection for any equipment or area that has a measured noise level above 85dB. We have tags on the equipment and signs up in the areas. The crew carries ear plugs in their pockets, or on cords around their necks, or wears ear muffs (usually for planned excursions into noisy areas). We also have ear plug dispensing areas inside every shop door.

One of the activities that gets a chuckle from visitors is when they see someone running the vacuum cleaner while wearing muffs. Yes, the vacuum cleaner generates over 85 dB.

I use double protection at the range, and electronic muffs while hunting.

(...and I'm over 50 and I can still hear. )

 

[deadin]

I will be 69 YO this year. I've been shooting since I was about 14. No protection. Then I spent 20 years in a Stage/Rock band standing in front of high power amplifiers. No protection. (Still shooting on my off hours)
About 15 or 20 years ago I started wearing hearing protection. Just sitting here right now, I have ringing, no, screaming in my ears and I am told that there is nothing that can be done about it.
Luckily I have managed to live with it. Some folks can't.

USE PROTECTION!!!

 

[NMGonzo]

I double up.

Seriously ... both plugs and muffs.

 

[RhinoDefense]

Dmazur, no doubt. I also wear hearing protection when mowing the lawn.

 

[Buzzard]

I've worn ear plugs for the past twelve years. Mowing the lawn, running a vacuum in the house, working on engines of any sort, running power tools louder than a drill (Dremel, circular saw; router gets double-plugged). Anything to save my hearing. People look at me weird when an ambulance goes screaming by and I've got my fingers in my ears. There's a reason: it freakin' HURTS! Guys at work give me grief because I bring my own plugs instead of using the cheap foam ones. My hearing is fine, while some of them are yelling "WHAT!?" halfway through lunch.

When it comes to shooting, I never bothered with hearing protection. Until I started up again a few years ago, all of my shooting had been done while I was a teenager. According to God Himself, teenagers are invincible! So firing .22s or a .50 cal Hawken or even a 30-06 for ten rounds does NOT require hearing protection. No hearing trouble in this fella's head. In fact, I'm usually the one asking other folks whether or not they heard something. Subtle pitch shifts in music or engine notes, odd sounds from the neighbor's place, the A/C compressor kicking on next door; I can hear that stuff. Probably because I've become such a fanatic about protecting my hearing.

Want a set? $3-4, Silencio Blue with the radial fins rated 25dB. Had 'em ten years and they're still workin' fine. For that matter, so are my ears!

 

[General Geoff]

Buzzard, can you hear the high-pitched tone put off by most electronic equipment (TVs, monitors, computers, etc)? I hate that; small price to pay for having superb hearing, though, I guess. And on the plus side, I can tell when someone left the TV on, from the other room, even if it's muted or has no input.

 

[Buzzard]

Buzzard, can you hear the high-pitched tone put off by most electronic equipment (TVs, monitors, computers, etc)? I hate that; small price to pay for having superb hearing, though, I guess. And on the plus side, I can tell when someone left the TV on, from the other room, even if it's muted or has no input.

Depends on how long the offending object has been on. TVs tend to whine rather loudly until they've been on for 15 minutes or so, at which point the keening sound almost goes away. Almost. Sometimes I can tell when the TV downstairs is still on even when its muted and I'm upstairs. To be fair, the TV downstairs is almost on top of the staircase so hearing it isn't all that hard. My computer monitor is an old one, and it has never made that keening sound.

I know when various computer parts are trying to fail by the sound they make. Fan bearings especially, but the sounds of a low 12v line on a hard-drive are also obvious once you know what the sound is. For the most part, though, my current computer is very quiet. I can hear my cheap DVD player choking on a bad disc from ten feet (the repeated clicks of the DVDs laser seeker are a dead give-away) and I can hear the clik-clik-clik-clik of a CD player on pause from several feet away. If you really want to go nuts, try sleeping in a room with a clock radio that is on but has the volume set to zero.

And none of this bothers me in the least! I'm glad my hearing works as well as it does, and putting in ear plugs while vacuuming doesn't bother me at all. Though I will occasionally vacuum out the cat brush without 'em. Less than a minute's exposure is okay in my book. Any longer, though... nope, plug up!

 

[Grey Morel]

What will HURT your unprotected ears? Anything greater than a .22 Mag.

What will rob you of your hearing over time? ANY GUN OR CALIBER.

 

[wishin]

Have fun with tinnitus in your later years.

Damage doesn't always result in tinnitus, but nonetheless you will suffer hearing loss. I have a moderate hearing loss from tank guns and firearms and have never experienced any ringing in my ears. Wear hearing protection whenever shooting any caliber.

 

[General Geoff]

Buzzard (and anyone else interested): If you want an interesting benchmark to test your hearing, download a program called Audacity, and insert generated tones of increasing frequency into a sound file, then listen to them with a set of good quality headphones. Healthy young human hearing perception ranges from about 20hz to 18,000hz.

I got all the way up to 17,800hz and could still hear the tone; 17,900 I couldn't distinguish anymore. Not bad for a 25 year old (supposedly only teenagers should be able to hear past 16khz)... also, the average middle aged person can only perceive up to 12 or 14khz (or so the experts say).

 

[CoRoMo]

...I can tell when someone left the TV on... even if it's muted or has no input.

Same here. I've done this dozens of times over my life: Walk into a room and ask someone if I can turn off that TV. They tell me that it is obviously off already because the screen is dark or whatever, but when I hit the power button and they see the screen snap off, they are amazed. I can hear that soft high pitch that it emits.

I really need to get a pair of electronic muffs to use when I'm deer & elk hunting. I just use plugs when I hunt everything else.

 

[oldfool]

don't pay any attention to these silly old farts
if you can hear a mouse fart at 100 yards, don't worry about it
just do your thing
and you will be far less inclined to worry about Grizz and Lion noises and/or the sound of brakes squealing behind you at the stoplight (because you won't hear them anyway)
don't worry, be happy !
live fast, die young (and deaf), and leave a beautiful memory

if replying to this post, please speak a little LOUDER

PS
and do not floss your teeth
(Vegans don't need teeth anyway, and everybody knows by now that red meat is bad for you)

 

[mboylan]

To answer your original question. The muzzle blast from a .22 Hornet is much closer to a .223 than a .22LR. It's loud.

 

[TomTerrific]

Hearing loss is like cancer: once you are aware of it, it's probably too late to do anything about it.

I have unilateral hearing loss in my left ear, probably from driving a lot with the window down. I started driving in 1953 and didn't have a car with a/c until recent decades.

I will say I had tinnitus before my hearing loss became apparent in my annual audiogram at work. We started doing them in 1970, long before the OSHA Hearing Conservation Amendment.

Impact noise is different than continuous noise as a couple of people have pointed out and you need a special meter to measure it. The OSHA exposure limits for it are different than for continuous noise. Also, OSHA standards are not applicable for the general population but are a decent starting point.

Shooting is impact noise. Did you ever shoot a gun and have ringing immediately? That's a sign of damage. Use hearing protection. I seem to get good protection from plugs.

I was a Certified Industrial Hygienist at work and administered my company's Hearing Conservation Program. It is satisfying to see a lot of knowledge of noise and its effects in this thread.

Tom

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One of the advantages of being old is I can ignore people and they think I can't hear them.

 

[benEzra]

Simply put, I don't believe the .22 rifles are all that loud when compared to other things we hear in our lives

What else in your daily life tops 140dB? Unless you work on an aircraft carrier deck or an industrial noise hazard area, probably not much.