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December 11, 2011, 09:07 AM | #1 |
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Use It or Lose It - Hearing Protection
A public service announcement style video on the importance of hearing protection and advice and encouragement on "double plugging."
Video here. |
December 11, 2011, 10:22 PM | #2 |
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Tinnitus sucks. Did i spell that right! Unfortunatley its all too common in the military.
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December 11, 2011, 10:44 PM | #3 |
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I use wadded up toilet paper in my ears. Works great.
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December 14, 2011, 11:39 AM | #4 |
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I first developed a ringing in my ears when I was around 21 years old. I fired a 1911 with no hearing protection and my ears immediately began screaming. Ever since then I have teh ringing in my ears. I hear it now as I type this. I hear it all the time it is most noticeable when I try to sleep.
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December 18, 2011, 11:05 AM | #5 |
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Wadded up toilet paper does not "work great" ... if you keep doing that you can plan on spending a lot of money on hearing aids.
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December 19, 2011, 06:06 PM | #6 |
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Went into the Army with perfect hearing,came out with a loss in my right ear(Their rubber plugs suck). Ever since then i use foam plugs,and electronic muffs.Even when we go out to see local bands i find myself putting foam in,it just isn't worth any further hearing loss.
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December 20, 2011, 11:44 AM | #7 |
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Four years U.S.M.C., large guns, small guns, frags, etc. No hearing protection. Can't hear s**t.
Wife is always irritated. Buzzing in ears that never stops. Difficulty functioning in many situations. V.A. gave up on hearing aids five years ago. Take it for what it is worth. Good luck with T.P. ear protection. |
December 26, 2011, 09:49 PM | #8 |
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I have always 'double plugged" Not too proud to save my hearing
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December 27, 2011, 03:33 PM | #9 |
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Always Always Always Double plugged
My hearing is already very fragile from poor genetics and lots of sinus infections. My tinnitus comes and goes, in fact, I've got some static going on right now.
I cant' understand why "suppressors" are so severally restricted under the National Firearms Act. It just makes zero sense. From what I've read the noise reduction would only be about 20%, but any little bit helps. The near ban on suppressors is simply assinine and I really would like to file suit to get this regulation off the books. I'm thinking that an ADA approach might work as well as a Second Amendment attack. |
December 27, 2011, 06:06 PM | #10 |
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I use electronic ear muffs at the range. However, if you get into a shooting situation out in public, what do you use?? I did a Gun Fighting Class last year and one of the parts of the course was shooting from in and around your vehicle in an armed confrontation situation. The second situation I did not have my hearing protection on and from inside my car it was really loud shooting thru the passenger side window rolled down. You may want to at least test this situation out as in a public gun fight there will be no hearing and likely no eye protection. That could come as a real shock to you if you have not experienced it.
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December 28, 2011, 12:24 PM | #11 |
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Toilette paper muffles the sound of voices and therefore may provide you the illusion of protection. It offers ZERO protection from gunfire. Same with cotton balls. I used both in my youth and now suffer severe tinnitus. I cannot remember what silence sounds like.
I now consistently use foam plugs under electronic ear muffs. Don't know if the NRR is fully additive but they are rated at 33dB and 25 dB respectively. I can hear range commands and still have very good protection from gunfire. I do not recommend exposing your ears to gunfire unprotected just so it won't come as a shock to you. In a real gunfight you may not even hear your own weapon discharge as the catecholamine dump you experience will often cause things like tunnel vision and auditory exclusion. A single time firing a weapon from inside a vehicle may cause permanent hearing loss. A reasonable sacrifice to save your life, not acceptable for practice. IMHO
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"Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." --George Washington Last edited by M14fan; December 28, 2011 at 12:31 PM. |
December 28, 2011, 04:59 PM | #12 |
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What works best? Putting earplugs in with normal earmuffs too or electronic earmuffs?
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December 28, 2011, 06:24 PM | #13 |
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hope the military takes care of the people who lost some or all of there hearing while under there care.
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December 28, 2011, 08:47 PM | #14 |
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I wish i had took hearing protection more seriously the first time i fired my .44 after the 3rd shot i was trying to plug my left ear with my shoulder to ease the db overload (unsuccesfully) and after the 5th shot i had to stop and went home with ears still ringin a tiny bit and pain in my left ear.
Ever since then i have used ear plugs and what a difference, i will never fire a firearm without hearing protection ever again. Unless my life depends on it... -illus1on |
December 29, 2011, 09:42 AM | #15 |
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Always have used plugs under muffs. Also have always used eye protection, more then once it has saved my eyes from brass that would otherwise hit me hard in the eyeball.
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December 29, 2011, 10:03 AM | #16 | |
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Quote:
http://www.earplugco.com/hearing.htm
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December 29, 2011, 12:33 PM | #17 |
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I work around some of the louder noise sources on earth: turbine engines. I'm a pilot. I wear ear plugs during pre-flight, and when walking around a flight line. I wear active noise reduction headsets in the cockpit.
I used to ride a Harley. I wore ear plugs with a half-helm; engine noise wasn't too bad, but wind noise at 65mph plus is a bear. I shoot a lot. I wear plugs, or plugs and cups. My hearing is still pretty decent, in my mid-40s. But when I was about 30, I had a flight surgeon once ask me if I shot a lot of pistol. I asked why he asked? He said I had noticeable mid-range (I think around 4000Hz) hearing loss in my left ear, which is where gunfire noise would focus when a right-hander shoots from Weaver or Chapman... It was right after that I started using double protection; haven't noticed much dB loss ever since. |
December 30, 2011, 02:27 PM | #18 |
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i used to b heavily into home audio and at one point my system actually cracked the drywall in my house not only in the one room but in another room on the opposit side of the house. and even with all that abuse my hearing seems to still b good.
Firearms is another story tho. would prolly only take a few clips or cylinders to perm damage ur hearing without hearing protection. Like i said earlier 5 shots from my 44 c&b without protection and my left ear had pain for about 2 hrs after. |
January 12, 2012, 12:59 PM | #19 |
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WHAT????!!!!! HHUUU????!!!!! im 21 and my girlfriend is always ****** when i say that. wear your durn hearing protection
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January 13, 2012, 05:59 AM | #20 |
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Hope to God, I never get into
a "shooting" situation but if I did, my hearing would be the last thing I'd be worried about. Coming out alive with damaged ears is fine with me considering the alternative. |
March 4, 2012, 06:25 PM | #21 |
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I know this an old thread but it's always good to remind shooters about hearing loss and tinnitus.
I don't know what I would do if my tinnitus went away after twenty years... it'd be so quiet! I guess I'd jump for joy and do some kind of a jig. I was first struck with tinnitus when I was 19 years old and sitting in the driver's hole of an M1A1 tank in the middle of winter. I had my hatch cracked 'cause the tank commander insisted on me having the heater running full blast and it was over 100 degree in my driver's hole despite it being 20 degrees outside. Anyway, I was half-asleep from the heat and didn't hear the fire command until it was too late for me to close the hatch. That 120 mm cannon was about two feet above my head and went off. The ringing in my ears started right then, despite my having a CVC helmet with earcups on. I've never found a cure, and I have it all the time. Those herbal pills for it you can get at a lot of the pharmacy chains does knock it down a few notches... but it's ridiculously expensive. Same thing with going for real acupuncture... it takes it down a few levels but it's not a permanent fix. I think once you have it you are stuck with it. Take it from a former tank crewman. If you don't have hearing damage yet, try to prevent it. It sucks. So, when you shoot put on your ears (hearing protection). To be on the safe side, use both ear plugs and the shooting muffs. For ear plugs, I recommend the silicone moldable style (Mack's, for example) you can get at any drugstore. Despite the warnings on those about applying them just on the outside area of your ears, I recommend taking one plug and pulling it into two pieces, then roll each half into a shallow cone shape and stuff that (narrow end first, duh) into each ear. I've never had much of an issue with getting them back out. |
March 5, 2012, 12:25 AM | #22 |
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I was lucky, I came back from Across the Pond with no problems, I think's it's because I would let the wax build up in my ears until it was a solid block I could pull out in one piece, plus I shouted my war cry in action-in BCT I was notorious for my blood curdling scream in bayonet training. Having been a mostly indoors shooter I have been using plugs and muffs for over 30 years now. I use ear protection when I use power tools or even my vacuum cleaner.
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March 5, 2012, 09:13 PM | #23 |
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I'm 65. I've used hearing protection for . . . only about the last 20 years. I've spent about $10,000 on hearing aids so far.
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March 7, 2012, 08:31 PM | #24 |
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I'm 35 and have developed tinnitus from ear/sinus infections and medication. Oddly enough, being a musician hasn't change that; my ENT says there's a way to tell if it's noise induced.
I recently got my firearms license and joined a club, which has just made things worse For club entry (an liability insurance) you need to put 10 .22lr into the black and 10 .38 into the black. I've never shot a gun before and was pleasantly surprised I could do it I had planned to double plug, but couldn't hear anyone speak so I took out the foam plugs and did my 15-20 minute test with 4 other guys...I should have made the instructor scream and double plugged because now my ringing is even louder Even I didn't have noise induced tinnitus before, I sure do now |
March 27, 2012, 11:07 PM | #25 |
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need to read the hearing thread in the general forum. It explains the issues in detail. You should a set of foam plugs or muffs with a minimun NRR of 30.
I posted a discussion on range time limits on that post. The thread is "hearing protection vs hearing Damage. Wish I had followed my own advice when I was younger. |
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