I see this brought up more and more on different forums. The question always goes something like this one.
AR's are louder than say a 9 mm pistol. If you don't believe me stand between them on the range (with ear protection of course) and see for yourself. How much louder, I don't know, just louder.
Put a suppressor on your AR if that is what you are going to use in your house. You need to be able to hear everything if you are going to defend yourself so ear protection is not a good idea. As far as I know you can't suppress a shotgun so that's out. The least amount of noise is going to be from a suppressed pistol. Lots of good ones available. Here's a Sig suppressor.
http://www.sigsauer.com/CatalogProdu...mm-sig-sd.aspx
Not being able to hear is a disability and a handicap. Vets get paid for it. I lost a fair amount of my hearing in the Navy working with aircraft.
Don't assume that a few shots inside a house won't damage your hearing because it will.