Ear plugs AND Ear muffs?

[Stumpkiller]

My father-in-law was a cabinetmaker most of his life. Between the planer and the saws he was mostly deef. With my mother-in-law about that was one of the blessings of age, according to him. :haha:

I wear the little sonic piston style and still have fairly good hearing. Some scaring in one ear, but I test above average and have done a lot of shooting of all varieties over the years.

 

[Bountyhunter]

Well, a good set of electronic muffs are a couple hundred bucks.

A normal set of these hearing aids like I have to use now are a couple thousand per ear.

Without the hearing aids, I cannot hear the TV or have a normal conversation. Sure should have had a set of muffs about 40 years ago.

Bill

 

[rebel727]

It just sounds like you plan on hearing the Crickets I can't hear

I'm the opposite. I hear crickets all the time. I can't hear a watch tick unles it's right up in my ear. I drive an 18 wheeler and I can't hear my cell phone ring in the cab with it two feet away. I can hear it in my pickup tho.

 

[Claude Mathis]

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:

I made my living play drums in the early 1960's. I know exactly what you mean. Today, many artists wear plugs on stage, but back then we didn't even mike the drums. You played load to be heard over the guitar amps.

We used to shoot without protection on a regular basis too. :shake:

My ears ring 24 hours a day, sometimes very load.

It's too late for some of us - Young people, protect those ears!

 

[TANSTAAFL]

If in doubt, always use the muffs or plugs.

All those years in the oil patch working on or around, Screaming Jimmys, Waukeshas, Cooper Bessemers, IR's, Clarks, gas fired turbines and high speed centrifugal gas compressors has left me more than a little short on the hearing thingy. And, I used ear protection religiously, to no avail, "EXCEPT" it could always have been worse.

 

[WV_Hillbilly]

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....

I'm nearly twice your age and though I did lose a little bit of hearing in the right ear early on due to NOT wearing protection while shooting .22 riflies... I now wear the disposable type soft compression foam plugs AND a pair of high quality (or electronic sound cutoff type) muffs.

Muzzleloaders don't have the sound intensity or the higher frequencies that some guns do, but it is still a good way to damage your hearing capacity. I am a walking billboard for safety nowadays, and do not consider it overkill or overly cautious. It's just GOOD SENSE! I also wear a nice pair of wrap around shatter proof goggles over top of my prescription glasses. (Remember that some of these eyeglasses are NOT as shatter resistant as we think).

You'll be glad you saved your hearing in later years. I'm really happy to hear the "spring peepers" this spring, the katydids in late summer, and hope to continue to hear them until I pass from this world.

Shoot Safely,
WV_Hillbilly

 

[paulvallandigham]

May I suggest that shooter consider going to the local hearing aid store, ( Belltone, for me), and have them cast you custom fitted earplugs? This should run less than $30.00, and they make them out of a plastic that is soft enough not to irritate your ears, but strong enough to last a long time. These are excellent plugs as they fit your ears perfectly, every time, don't stick out, where they can be bumped, and, best of all, you can wear ear muffs over them for added protection. I use the combination of plugs and muffs whenever I am shooting modern rifles, and magnum handguns. The plugs work for shotguns, and muzzle loaders, unless I am around the slug gun range. Then, I need both plugs and muffs, again! I have hearing losses in both ears, from working various jobs when I was young without protection, and from shooting back when only large, cumbersome muffs were available, and I was too young to realize that I needed to wear them every time I was shooting, and even standing around watching my brother or father shoot. Young people rarely listen to us grayhairs, but this is one time that they should. We have excellent ear protection available today that just was not around when I was younger.

 

[netoleon]

The "wisdom of the aged" is pretty clear in this thread. I was lucky and after a few ear-hammering sessions with chainsaws as a teenager, I figured out it was way better to be slightly uncomfortable for a short time, than deaf for a long time.

To anyone who says, "look at the NRRs on these, they're adequate", I'd say - PLEASE, read the fine print. For ear plugs, OSHA allows the NRR to be the maximum protection that could be achieved if the plug fit perfectly and was inserted and expanded properly. But the usage standard is to allow for 50% only ( yes, that's 1/2 ) the NRR listed as the average protection in any given situation/application. So if your earmuffs are slightly askew, or your foam earplug isn't at the proper depth in your ear canal - 50% of the NRR is the average protection you can expect. It may be even less than that if, for example, your earplugs have worked themselves loose ( it's happened to me plenty of times ).

In that light, the protection afforded by plugs worn under muffs starts to look more prudent and less obsessive.

 

[marwat06]

Hmmm never thought of getting custom made earplugs. Good idea. Hey now I can at least have something that is custom made that is sort of related to M/L. :haha:

I had just ear plugs in when the guy on the next station let loose with his .40 SW pistol. Wow was it loud even with my earplugs.

 

[RedFeather]

That's what I was talking about. That .375 was more than loud. Shooter was a big, dumpy guy and it rocked him straight back each time. His dad was there and said sonny couldn't take more than about six or seven round from the bench. I thought that rifle must be such a joy. You never know who or what will be next to you at the range!

 

[the skrat]

i run a chain saw almost every day and buy the best ear plugs available they offer better protection than the muffs and i find them more comfertable. i tried plugs and muffs together one time and didnt feel that it provided double protection but did notice it was a little quieter.i think muzzle blasts had an article a few years back on hearing protection. i had a talk with my safety inspecter a couple years ago and he told me athough gun noise is bad its not as bad as continuose noise that lasts all day long and i think that was also the findings on the magazine article. but to be sure more protection sure cant hurt you.

curly maple