Ear plugs AND Ear muffs?

[jderrick]

Is that a 24-year old planning ahead for hearing in his old age or is it repetitivly redundant overkill?

And yes, I do wear them yellow shooting glasses over my prescription set....

 

[Zonie]

It just sounds like you plan on hearing the Crickets I can't hear when you get to be my age.
Between firing big bore guns and playing in Rock bands my hearing was damaged years ago.
I still hear normal sounds but not the high pitched ones.

I have gotten used to my wife getting up and going across the room and yelling SHUT UP while she is banging on the wall. Coming back to sit down she once again says "You can't hear those d*** crickets can you?" :rotf: :grin:

 

[jderrick]

So maybe being a little hard of hearing is a good thing sometimes? Just kidding....

 

[AZ-Robert]

Certainly won't hurt, and just might help. But then, I wear earplugs in movie theaters. :thumbsup:

 

[Ridge]

For muzzleloaders it's overkill.

A good pair of earplugs (properly fitted) is all you will need.

 

[MSW]

long ago, when men were men and giants walked the earth, i could hear multiple conversations in multiple languages in a crowded room. at your age, there's no reason you can't do the same. now, i'm lucky to hear the TV (not that that's necessarily a bad thing, anyway). classic high frequency hearing loss, caused by
1) shooting without plugs when i was younger
2) fooling around in tanks when i was younger
3) foolong around with REALLY BIG (105mm tank cannon) GUNS when i was younger
3a) fooling around with slightly smaller (50 cal M2) machine guns when i was younger
4) fooling around with high frequency, high intensity jet and turboprop engines (C-130 and C-141) when i was younger and jumping out of airplanes for a living
5) age (i'm now fifty two)
6) (maybe) genitics: my father was nearly stone deaf when he died at the age of sixty eight, and my mother was too mean to admit that she couldn't hear and didn't care

so, don't do as i did. most helicopter pilots i knew wore both the helmet (which has muffs built in) and earplugs. i would recommend you do the same.

earplugs are much more comfortable now than they were twenty years ago- get a bunch of the foam expandable ones. i wear them at work, twelve hour shifts, with no discomfort. i also wear muffs, especially when it's cold. you can get muffs with all manner of bells and whistles, check out the ones that automatically clip out the sudden high volume noises but let normal conversation through.

what? say again?

MSW





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[roundball]

I've definitely lost a lot on my left year after 60 years...

I wear my watch on my left wrist and sitting here at my desk, looking straight ahead, I cannot hear my watch ticking with my left ear which is only 12"-18" above my wrist as I sit here.

However, if I turn my head slightly to the left I can hear my watch ticking over there with my right ear.

 

Watches tick? and some tell me that watches play music???How about that? what will they come up with next?????? :shocked2:

 

[twotoescharlie]

are earplugs and earmuffs PC? I figured you guys would be using corncobs or something PC!

TTC

 

[RedFeather]

Nope, not overkill at all. Ear plugs dampen one kind of shock wave or noise, and ear muffs another (bone transduced?) I was shooting a .22 off the bench once and there was a young guy about three stations to my left shooting a .375 SomethingorOther with a wide muzzle break. Every time he ripped one off I could feel the concussion. Didn't do much for my groups, to say the least! I was glad I had both plugs and muffs as that thing with the side ports was louder than the clap of doom!

A gun mag once published a decible table to show just how loud a .22lr is. What caught my eye was the lawn mower just slightly under it. Now I wear muffs while mowing. Looks funny but, you know, for some reason about all my neighbors are doing it now.

 

[jderrick]

:rotf: I'll do a lot of odd things for this hobby but I AM NOT going to stick a corn cob in my ear....

It'd get in the way of the Babelfish....

 

[Claude Mathis]

...is it repetitivly redundant overkill?

There's no such things as too much protection for your hearing. Using both is not as inconvenient now, as not being able to hear later.

Use both. :thumbsup:

 

I cannot get my head down on the stock of a long gun like I need to with muffs on.

I just use the good quality sonic plugs. I don't know why though, my hearing was shot out by the 105s back in '72 anyway.

If you can wear both do so. Even mild hearing loss is irritating and embarassing. I get very tired of asking people to repeat themselves.

 

[Slake]

Sounds very smart to me. I'm an old fart with hearing damage from much of the same as you read above and only now am I starting to be careful. I wear plugs when shooting a rifle, but I'm a handunner and when I'm bangin away with the big bores or my Glock I wear plugs AND muffs. And when I go to concerts I stuff bits of napkins in my ears, I found that works better for me than plugs 'cause I don't wanna kill all the sound {I paid for the tickets, ya know}

 

[FallingCrows]

The problem I have with ear muffs is they get in the way of my head and stock. Maybe that's because I have the same set I used in the service.

 

[roundball]

This is just a general comment...according to the labels / specs, the best quality disposable foam earplugs have the highest DB protection rating of all of them...29/30 DB protection.

As a side note, to be used most correctly, they have to be gently squeezed / compressed by rolling them between thumb & forefinger, then slid DEEP into an ear while reaching around behind your head with the other hand and pulling back on the outer ear part to fully open up the access...release them and the plugs will expand to block very deep and tight...just wish I had used them years and years ago on the flight line

 

[mike alexandre]

As a second job I happen to rep for a company who sells amongst other things hearing protection stuff. I've done the manufactures course and when it comes to earplugs heres the data.
A good pair of ear muffs around 30db
Banded earplugs ( the soft ones on a plastic band over your head) 22db
Plastic stick in the ear(look like xmas trees) 26db
The soft roll up things Roundball is on about 34db.
If I remember rightly a 12bore shotgun makes a noise around 24db.

 

[Maestro]

...is it repetitivly redundant overkill?

There's no such things as too much protection for your hearing. Using both is not as inconvenient now, as not being able to hear later.

Use both. :thumbsup:

I agree! I wish I had worn earplugs all those years playin' keyboards in loud bands - and standing right next to the drummers' cymbals! :shake: I've lost some high frequency in my hearing - never to return. "An ounce of prevention..." Having said that, I usually wear ear plugs OR ear muffs - plugs more often. :hatsoff:

 

It may be too late for me, after 25 years in the Air Force around jet engines. Not to mention my last 8 years as a small Arms Instructor and having to use the minimal amount of hearing protection required in order to perform my job. My hearing to date is terrible. Then again, when I really look at it, at times it's a blessing. Think of it as selective hearing.

Oh, by the way, what were you guys saying?

 

[Slamfire]

I can remember after gittin' my first set of hearing aids, rubbin' my hands together, just to hear the sound of my palm prints rubbin' agin each other. Had forgotten all about that sound. If plugs is ok, and muffs is better, plugs and muffs ain't too much. :winking: